Headsprout Early Reading Teacher's Guide

Teacher’s Guide

INP1004.2 (8/10)

Headsprout® Early ReadingTeacher’s GuideCopyright © 2008, 2010 Headsprout

Headsprout®, Headsprout® Early Reading, Headsprout® Reading Comprehension,Sprout Stories™ and Sprout Cards™ are trademarks of Headsprout, Inc.

U.S. Patent number: 6,523,007

Published by Headsprout, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written consent of Headsprout, including, but not limited to, network or other electronic storage or transmission, or broadcast for distance learning.

Headsprout, Inc.www.headsprout.com

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN: 978-1-932720-14-3

Early Reading Teacher’s Guide i

Table of Contents

Welcome!

Welcome! .............................................................................................................. 1

Section 1: Overview of Headsprout® Early Reading ........................... 3

Description of Headsprout Early Reading ...................................... 4

The Headsprout Story ................................................................... 5

Skills Taught in Headsprout Early Reading ..................................... 5

Program Materials ........................................................................ 6Teacher Materials .................................................................................. 6

Student Materials .................................................................................. 6

Student Motivation Materials ................................................................. 7

Print Materials Kits ................................................................................ 7

School and Classroom Kits .................................................................... 8

Sampling Headsprout Early Reading .............................................. 9

Section Summary ......................................................................... 9

ii

Section 2: Setting Up Headsprout Early Reading .............................. 11

Setting Up the Program .............................................................. 12

Computer Compatibility ............................................................. 12

Headsprout Teacher Accounts ..................................................... 13Creating a New Account ....................................................................... 13

The “My Headsprout” Page ......................................................... 14Creating a Desktop Icon ....................................................................... 14

Managing Your Class Roster ................................................................. 14

Teacher Account Settings ............................................................ 18

Headsprout Management Accounts .............................................. 18

Section Summary ......................................................................... 19

Section 3: Planning to Use Headsprout Early Reading .................... 21

More about Headsprout Early Reading ........................................ 22

Three Guiding Principles for Reading Success .............................. 23

Pre-Plan: Headsprout Implementation ......................................... 24

Getting Ready for the Online Session .......................................... 25Group Rotation .................................................................................... 25

Using the “Computer Schedule Calculator” ........................................... 25

Setting Up the Computer Lab ...................................................... 26

Identifying Expectations for Success ........................................... 26

Section Summary ....................................................................... 27

Section 4: Using Headsprout Early Reading in the Classroom or Lab .......... 29

Getting Started ........................................................................... 30Using a Mouse ..................................................................................... 30

Readiness Exercises ............................................................................. 30

Learning Objectives for Mousing Around ............................................. 31

Starting an Online Episode .......................................................... 31

Table of Contents

Early Reading Teacher’s Guide iii

Identifying Expectations for Success .................................................... 32

During an Online Episode ........................................................... 33Signaling the Teacher: Help Signs ......................................................... 33

Maximizing the Screen ......................................................................... 33

Encouraging Students to Orally Respond to the Computer .................... 33

Between Activities – Loading Screens ................................................... 33

Pausing and Stopping .......................................................................... 34

Stopping Before an Episode Is Complete .............................................. 34

Managing Episodes ..................................................................... 35Completing Multiple Episodes in a Session ........................................... 35

Do You Have Ideas You’d Like to Share? ................................................ 35

Section Summary ....................................................................... 35

Section 5: Sprout Stories .............................................................................. 37

What Are the Sprout Stories? ....................................................... 38Types of Sprout Stories ........................................................................ 38

Getting the Sprout Stories into the Hands of Your Readers ........... 39

Using Sprout Stories in the Classroom ......................................... 42Independent Reading ........................................................................... 42

Reading Groups ................................................................................... 42

Reading in Pairs (With Peers or Older Students) .................................... 42

Sprout Story Analysis and Leveling .............................................. 44

Section Summary ....................................................................... 45

Section 6: Benchmark Reading Assessments ...................................... 47

Benchmark Reading Assessments ............................................... 48Ways to Know a Student Is Ready for a Benchmark Reading Assessment ......................................................... 48

Conducting a Benchmark Reading Assessment ..................................... 49

Organizing Benchmark Reading Assessment Data ................................ 50

Inputting Benchmark Reading Assessment Scores ................................ 50

Table of Contents

iv

Handling Errors When Reading Aloud .......................................... 51Episodes 1-23 ...................................................................................... 51

Episodes 24-40 .................................................................................... 52

Episodes 41–80 .................................................................................... 52

Section Summary ....................................................................... 53

Section 7: Enrichment ................................................................................... 55

Additional Headsprout Activities ................................................. 56Sprout Cards ....................................................................................... 56

Headsprout Activity Center ......................................................... 57Activity Center Ideas ............................................................................ 58

Tracking Progress ....................................................................... 60

Popular Readable Stories ............................................................ 60

Section Summary ....................................................................... 61

Section 8: Tips for Diverse Learners ...................................................... 63

Diverse Learners in Your Classroom ............................................ 64Preparing a List of Focus Students ...................................................... 64

Helping Students Who Need Special Attention ..................................... 64

Setting Up a Point Chart for an Individual Student ............................... 64

Fading Out a Point Chart ...................................................................... 65

Students with Special Needs ............................................................... 66

Working with Students with Visually Impairments ............................... 66

Working with ELL Students ................................................................... 67

Sprout Stories – Reading Intervention Recommendations ............. 68

Home Use .................................................................................. 70

Section Summary ....................................................................... 71

Table of Contents

Early Reading Teacher’s Guide v

Table of Contents

Section 9: Performance Reports .............................................................. 73

Headsprout’s Secure Reports ...................................................... 74

Accessing Online Performance Reports ....................................... 74Group Reports ..................................................................................... 75

Individualized Student Reports ............................................................. 79

Compiling a Reading Portfolio .............................................................. 82

Section Summary ....................................................................... 83

Section 10: Skills and Strategies Taught in Headsprout Early Reading ........... 85

A Balanced Approach to Early Reading Instruction ....................... 86Five Interconnected Sub-skills ............................................................. 86

Headsprout’s Approach to Teaching .................................................... 90

Section Summary ....................................................................... 91

Section 11: The Science behind Headsprout Early Reading ............ 93

Scientific Research ...................................................................... 94

Headsprout’s Scientific Research and Development Process ......... 95

Sprout Learning® Technology: Combining the Science of Learning with the Art of Teaching ............................................................. 95

Learner-Verified Results ...................................................................... 96

Measurement Tactics ........................................................................... 97

Publications ......................................................................................... 97

Section Summary ....................................................................... 99

Reference and Recommended Readings ............................................ 100

List of Appendices ...................................................................................... 102

Early Reading Teacher’s Guide 1

This guide is designed to help you and your students make the most out of using Headsprout Early Reading. Here you will find all the essential information you need about the program, as well as suggestions, tips, and samples from educators across the country. We look forward to your contributions too!

Below you’ll see the icons used throughout the guide. These icons are designed to highlight various key points in the text.

How This Guide Can Help You

Welcome! Congratulations on your decision to use Headsprout® Early Reading in your classroom! Your students will find our program fun and engaging, and you’ll see the exciting results of our effective teaching strategies in your students’ reading performance. You will also enjoy the flexibility of Headsprout: Students can use the program according to a schedule that you design, and supplemental materials will provide additional fun and reinforcement. You’ve taken an important step toward your students’ reading success!

Key Icons

Section OverviewEach section of the Teacher’s Guide starts with a quick Section Overview letting you know what to expect within the section.

NoteNotes are key pieces of information that help ensure a smooth implementation of Headsprout Early Reading.

TipTips are helpful hints suggested by other teachers using Headsprout Early Reading in their classrooms across the country.


Section 1:

Overview of Headsprout® Early Reading

In this section, you’ll find:

Description of Headsprout Early Reading .................................. 4

The Headsprout Story .............................................................. 5

Skills Taught in Headsprout Early Reading ................................ 5

Program Materials ................................................................... 6Teacher Materials ............................................................................. 6

Student Materials ............................................................................. 6

Student Motivation Materials .............................................................7

Print Material Kits .............................................................................7

School and Classroom Kits ................................................................8

Sampling Headsprout Early Reading ......................................... 9

Section Summary .................................................................... 9

4 www.headsprout.com

Headsprout Early Reading is an engaging, Internet-based supplemental reading program that teaches beginning readers the essential skills and strategies required for reading success. The Headsprout development team has combined the best of education, research, animation, and Internet technology to create an innovative, thoroughly tested, scientifically-based reading program. Consisting of 80 online lessons and 80 “ready-to-read” Sprout Stories™, Headsprout Early Reading can be easily integrated into any core reading curriculum.

In less than 30 hours of individualized online instruction, Headsprout Early Reading brings a non-reader or beginning reader up to a mid-Second Grade reading level. In a matter of months, Headsprout’s scientifically validated approach helps students learn phonics and other critical component skills that align with National Reading Panel objectives.

Following the National Reading Panel (2000) guidelines for instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading, and reading comprehension, students learn through direct experience that letters make sounds, sounds combine to make words, words combine to make sentences, and sentences combine to make stories. The basic component skills and strategies necessary for reading, such as phonemic awareness, print awareness, phonics, sounding out, and segmenting and blending, are explicitly mastered in a fun, interactive manner.

Each lesson is presented online as an interactive cartoon episode and takes approximately 20 minutes to complete. By completing three to five episodes per week, your students can finish the entire program in less than a school year. Through the use of the Internet, this research-based program keeps track of and adapts to students’ performance, ensuring that critical skills are mastered. You and your administrators will receive secure, fully automated reports that mark your students’ progress each step of the way. See Section 9 for a full description of the reports that are available.

Description ofHeadsprout Early Reading

Section 1:

Overview of Headsprout Early Reading

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Started in 1999 in Seattle, Washington, Headsprout is the collaboration of experienced educators, learning scientists, and hundreds of children. Tested extensively on children, Headsprout’s Sprout Learning® Technology teaches reading and other fundamental academic skills via the Internet, for use in schools, homes, learning centers—wherever learning takes place. As the success of Headsprout Early Reading spreads, the Headsprout team continues to evolve the program using the adaptive technology of the Internet and ensuring the most up-to-date version of the program is always available to our customers. For more Headsprout information, visit our website at www.headsprout.com.

The Headsprout Story

Headsprout Early Reading incorporates the five basic skills that all children must master if they are to become proficient readers.

First, beginning readers must develop 1. phonemic awareness, the recognition that all words are made of separate sounds (phonemes).

Second, beginning readers need to learn 2. phonics, the ability to associate sounds to the specific letters or combinations of letters in written language. Beginning readers must learn a strategy to sound out the sequence of phonemes in a word and blend the sounds back together to read whole words.

Third, a student’s spoken 3. vocabulary must be extended to become a reading vocabulary. Students must understand that both the words they speak and the words they read have meaning—and that even unfamiliar words have meaning.

Fourth, reading 4. fluency is important for success as a reader. The association between letters and sounds must become fluent so that students can decode words almost instantly. Students who spend too much time decoding each word often lose the meaning of what they read, and they are likely to have a hard time keeping up with other students in the class.

Fifth, students must develop reading 5. comprehension. While mastery of phonics skills and good reading fluency are important, they are not sufficient to make a good reader. Students must understand what they read and be able to act on that understanding.

For more information about the five key components of reading and how they apply to Headsprout Early Reading, see Section 10.

Skills Taught inHeadsprout Early Reading

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Headsprout Early Reading includes a variety of materials that will help you and your students understand and get the most out of the program. There are guides, posters, stories, kits, maps, charts, and more! Below you’ll find a list of

the different materials we provide.

Teacher MaterialsTeacher’s Guide This provides all the information needed to get started using Headsprout Early Reading, including a detailed description of the Headsprout Early Reading curriculum.

1-2-3 Quick Guide: Getting Started This is a quick, step-by-step guide for getting started with Headsprout Early Reading.

Quick Tips for TeachersThese consist of job aids created to help teachers with the most common Headsprout questions.

Three Guiding Principles for Reading Success Poster This poster describes three important guidelines for achieving the most with the program, ensuring students’ reading success.

Benchmark Assessment KitThese kits include everything you need to be successful in conducting Headsprout Benchmark Reading Assessments. The kit includes: 12 Headsprout Readers, the Benchmark Reading Assessment Folder, and 25 Benchmark Assessment Forms.

Student MaterialsSprout Stories These 80 stories give students the opportunity to read independently, read with the class, and show off their reading skills at home. The stories are available to print online, and they’re also available, pre-printed, in the Sprout Stories Kit and as mini-books. For a description of the five types of Sprout Stories, please see Section 5.

Sprout Cards To complement Headsprout Early Reading, flash cards are available online to print or may also be purchased. Students can use the Sprout Cards to review the sounds, words, and cartoon characters they encounter online. Using these cards is optional, but they can be an engaging and reinforcing activity for your students.

Program Materials

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Student Motivation MaterialsHeadsprout Individual Progress MapThis colorful map motivates students and helps keep track of their progress through the worlds of Headsprout Early Reading.

Headsprout Individual Progress CardThis half-page black and white card is an efficient way to keep track of your students’ progress through Headsprout Early Reading.

Headsprout Classroom Progress ChartThis visual aid makes it easy to simultaneously track the progress of up to 30 students within a classroom or learning lab environment.

Completion Certificates These official certificates give you a way of formally recognizing students as they successfully complete the program or parts of the program.

Headsprout Celebration KitThis kit helps you celebrate your students’ reading progress. It includes 25 Scout puppets, 25 pencils, 25 Completion Certificates, a Congratulations banner, a teacher’s mug, and a play script for students to act out.

Print Materials KitsSprout Stories Kit

1-2-3 Quick Guide: Getting Started y

What to Expect Across the Episodes y

Quick Tips for Teachers y

Three Guiding Principles Poster y

Progress Maps and stickers (sample) y

Reproducible Progress Map (sample) y

Progress Card (sample) y

Completion Certification (sample) y

Sprout Story Analysis and Leveling Guide y

Sprout Story Reading Tracker y

Sprout Story Student Checklist y

Twelve Headsprout Readers with a Benchmark Assessment Kit y

Blackline Masters for all 80 Sprout Stories y

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Headsprout Introductory Kit(For implementations with under 50 students)

Benchmark Assessment Kit y

1-2-3 Quick Guide: Getting Started y

Three Guiding Principles for Reading Success Poster y

Progress Map y

Headsprout Essentials Kit(For implementations with over 50 students)

Sprout Stories Kit y

One set of 80 Sprout Stories mini-books y

Classroom Chart Set y

One set of Sprout Cards y

Teacher’s Guide y

Headsprout Educator Welcome Pack(For each teacher with implementations of over 50 students)

Includes Introductory Kit materials y

School and Classroom KitsHeadsprout Classroom Kit

Sprout Stories Kit y

One set of 80 Sprout Stories mini-books y

Classroom Chart Set y

Teacher’s Guide y

Headsprout Premium Classroom KitIncludes Classroom Kit materials plus:

25 sets of 80 Sprout Stories mini-books y

Five-pack of 12 Headsprout Readers y

25 Progress Maps and stickers y

25 Completion Certificates y

One set of Sprout Cards y

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Sampling Headsprout Early Reading

Headsprout provides three different ways to interactively sample Headsprout Early Reading:

Sample LessonsFor a quick look at interactive samples spanning the 80 episodes, visit us online at http://www.headsprout.com/teacher_early_lessons.cfm.

Online Product SamplerTo access Headsprout samples aligned with the five critical components of early reading instruction as identified by the National Reading Panel, visit us at http://www.headsprout.com/productsampler.

Episode SamplerTo interact with full Headsprout episodes (approximately 20 minutes for students to complete), visit us at http://www.headsprout.com/myheadsprout (*) and enter the following information: Username: [email protected] Password: ecar1

*If you already have a Headsprout account created and are logged in, you will need to log off and log in again using the above username and password. To log off of your Headsprout account, click the orange “Log off” button located in the upper right hand corner of your screen.

Section Summary

In this section, we provided a basic overview of Headsprout Early Reading and the five basic reading skills taught in the program. For more in-depth information on the five skills (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, reading fluency, and reading comprehension), please refer to Section 10. We also presented all of the Headsprout print materials and provided information about several ways you can access samples of the online program.

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Section 2:

Setting Up Headsprout Early Reading


Setting Up the Program ......................................................... 12

Computer Compatibility ........................................................ 12

Headsprout Teacher Accounts ................................................ 13

Creating a New Account ................................................................. 13

The “My Headsprout” Page .................................................... 14Creating a Desktop Icon ................................................................. 14

Managing Your Class Roster ........................................................... 14

Teacher Account Settings ....................................................... 18

Headsprout Management Accounts ........................................ 18

Section Summary .................................................................. 19


Before you embark on the adventure of using Headsprout Early Reading, there are a few steps you’ll need to take to make sure your computers are ready, your access is set up, and your students are enrolled in the program. This section will help you prepare for using Headsprout with your class.

Setting Up the Program

Section 2:

Setting Up Headsprout® Early Reading

One of the first things you’ll want to do is check the compatibility of your computers with our program. Most modern computers and web browsers will run Headsprout Early Reading. Our one-button test will check a computer’s browser, Adobe Flash Player version, and connection speed, and will let you know of any needed upgrades.

These tests should take less than two minutes on a dial-up connection and less than 20 seconds on a broadband connection. The System Analysis tool can be accessed online through the following link. Just click on the “Test Your System” button.

http://check.headsprout.com

If any of the tests fail, a “thumbs down” icon will appear. Click on the “What’s This?” link below the icon for troubleshooting information. If more assistance is needed, contact your school’s technical team. You may also contact the Headsprout Technical Support Department at 800.401.5062 Ext. 7300.

Computer Compatibility

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There are several ways to create and organize teacher accounts. Headsprout recommends that each teacher create his or her own Headsprout account. Each account has its own username (email address) and password. A Headsprout account will give you the ability to manage various account features and access your students’ performance reports.

Creating a New Account

Go to 1. https://www.headsprout.com/signup/start.

Fill in the requested information and click “verify.”2.

Record your account username (your email address) and password in a 3. safe place. You’ll need your password to change your account information or to view the online performance reports.

Headsprout Teacher Accounts

Note

Depending on your Internet connection speed, classes with over 50 students may cause your “My Headsprout” page to load more slowly. If this occurs, contact the Implementation Department at 800.401.5062 Ext. 7800.

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After creating a Headsprout account, you will automatically be directed to your own “My Headsprout” page, which will always have the most up-to-date resources. Think of the “My Headsprout” page as your “command center” for Headsprout Early Reading. The “My Headsprout” page is where students access their episodes and where you can view secure, web-based performance reports, update account information, and access additional Headsprout features and resources.

The Quick Links on the right side of the “My Headsprout” page include a User Guide, Assessments, Printable Student Materials, and Classroom Management Tools.

Header icons at the top of the “My Headsprout” page include links to create a desktop icon, manage your class roster, enter Headsprout Benchmark Reading Assessment scores, access readiness exercises, and view performance reports.

Creating a Desktop Icon Desktop Icons provide quick and easy access to your Headsprout account. After logging into your account, click on “Create Desktop Icon” and follow the on-screen instructions. This can be repeated on each computer that will be used for Headsprout. Once the icons are created, students can be taught to double-click the icon to access the screen from which they launch their lessons. For assistance creating desktop icons, call 800.401.5062 Ext. 7300 or email [email protected].

Managing your Class RosterThere are nine functions that can be completed from the “Manage Class Roster” link in your Headsprout account.

Enroll StudentsIf anyone in your district has used Headsprout before, your Headsprout Implementation Specialist will enroll students for you. If this is the first time Headsprout will be used within your district, you can enroll students from your Headsprout account. To enroll students, you will need the following information.

Student ID number y

Student first and last name y

Student gender y

Student grade y

Student birth date y

Student’s special needs status y

Student’s English as a Second Language (ESL) status y

Your School Code (provided by the person who purchased yHeadsprout)

The “My Headsprout” Page

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Follow these steps to enroll students.

From your “My Headsprout” page, click on “Manage Class Roster”1.

Click on “Enroll Students”2.

Follow the on-screen instructions3.

Group StudentsStudents can be grouped within your Headsprout account.From your “My Headsprout” page, click on “Manage Class Roster”

Click on “Group Students”1.

Click on the “Add Groups” tab to add a group2.

Click on the “Edit Groups” tab to assign students to a group3.

Click on the “Rename Groups” tab to rename a group4.

Click on the “Delete Groups” tab to delete a group5.

Click on the “View Groups” tab to view the groups you have created6.

Enable or Disable Home AccessThe Home Access feature allows a student to access Headsprout Early Reading seamlessly between home and school. Before enabling Home Access, please review the “Home Access Parent Permission Letter” under the “Classroom Management Tools” link in your account.

To enable Home Access, you will need the following information.

First and last name of parent or guardian y

Email address of parent or guardian y

Follow these steps to enable or disable Home Access for a particular student.


Click on “Enable or Disable Home Access”2.

Follow the instructions on the right side of the screen3.

When Home Access is enabled, the parent will receive an email from Headsprout that contains his or her personal login information. Home Access provides access to the student’s green arrow, printable Sprout Stories, Sprout Cards (flashcards), and a Progress Report. The parent will not have access to any of your teacher information, or to any other students.

Reset Students to Previous EpisodesStudents can be reset to a previous episode as needed. Resetting to a previous episode may be helpful in the following circumstances.

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If a printed Sprout Story is not read fluently, reset the student to the yepisode of the last successful Sprout Story.

If a Benchmark Reading Assessment is read with hesitation, follow the reset yrecommendations on the back of the Benchmark Folder.

If the “Class-wide Percent Correct” report displays a pattern of red scores, yreset the student to a previous episode above 90% correct.

Follow these steps to reset students to a previous episode.


Click on “Reset Students to Previous Episodes”2.


To have a student restart or repeat the last episode, look for the “Optional” choices below the student’s green arrow.

Provide Access to Additional Episodes or ProgramsIf your school or district has purchased Headsprout Early Reading, Episodes 41-80, or Headsprout Reading Comprehension, you can provide access to these additional episodes or programs under the “Manage Class Roster” link.


Click on “Provide Access to Additional Episodes or Programs”2.


If your school or district has purchased Headsprout Early Reading, Episodes 1-80, students will automatically be upgraded to the second half of the program, so you will not need to do this manually.

Withdraw StudentsYour performance reports will display inactive students in red, so it is important to keep your account up-to-date. If a student has left your classroom or will no longer be using Headsprout, you can withdraw the student with the following steps.


Click on “Withdraw Students”2.


If a student leaving your classroom will be able to continue the program in another classroom, contact your school’s Headsprout coordinator or Implementation Specialist to have the student transferred to his or her new teacher.

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View Withdrawn StudentsFollow these steps to view students who are in withdrawn status in your account.


Click on “View Withdrawn Students”2.


Reactivate Withdrawn StudentsWithdrawn students can be reactivated with the following steps.


Click on “Reactivate Withdrawn Students”2.


Edit Student DetailsStudent information may need to be updated in the following circumstances.

To correct a misspelled or legally changed student name y

To update or enter a Student ID y

To update or enter a student’s birth date y

To edit a student’s gender y

To update a student’s English as a Second Language (ESL) status y

To update a student’s special needs status y

To update a student’s grade level y

Student details can be edited with the following steps.


Click on “Edit Student Details”2.


Note

Your Headsprout Implementation Specialist can help update class rosters at the beginning of each school year. To speak with your Implementation Specialist, call 800.401.5062 Ext. 7800 or email [email protected].

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The “Teacher Account Settings” link at the top right corner of your account contains information about your username and password, security question and answer, email preferences, and school affiliation. To edit any of these details, click on “Teacher Account Settings” and update the information on screen.

Teacher Account Settings

There are two types of management accounts: the Headsprout Technical Coordinator account and the Administrator account. A brief description of each can be found below. To set up one of these accounts, please call Headsprout’s Implementation Department at 800.401.5062 Ext. 7800 or email [email protected].

Headsprout Technical Coordinator AccountThis account is used by the school’s designated Headsprout coordinator to manage the Headsprout accounts of multiple teachers. Functions within the Technical Coordinator account include creating new teacher accounts, assisting with desktop icon creation, moving students between teachers, and viewing available licenses.

Administrator Account This account is used by school administrators (e.g., principals, reading coaches, district administrators) to view performance reports for students or classes within a school or schools within a district. Administrator accounts contain both individual student data and aggregate data (class-wide and across classes). To learn more about performance reports, see Section 9.

Headsprout Management Accounts

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This section provided detailed information about setting up Headsprout Early Reading, including checking the compatibility of your computers, setting up a teacher account, enrolling students, and managing your class roster. The “My Headsprout” page contains Header Icons and Quick Links to everything you need for a successful implementation. A Technical Coordinator account or an Administrator account can be created, which will allow one person to manage multiple teacher accounts.

Section Summary

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Section 3:

Planning to Use Headsprout Early Reading


More about Headsprout Early Reading ..................................... 22

Three Guiding Principles for Reading Success ........................... 23

Pre-Plan: Headsprout Implementation ...................................... 24

Getting Ready for the Online Session ....................................... 25Group Rotation ................................................................................ 25

Using the “Computer Schedule Calculator” ....................................... 25

Setting Up the Computer Lab ................................................. 26

Identifying Expectations for Success ...................................... 26

Section Summary .................................................................... 27


Section 3:

Planning to Use Headsprout® Early Reading

There are many wonderful benefits to using Headsprout Early Reading for both you and your students. It complements any core reading curriculum, fits easily into your busy teaching day, and when students complete the recommended three to five episodes a week, they can finish the entire program in under a school year.

Headsprout Early Reading can be used in whatever environment best suits the needs of your students, whether in a computer lab, the classroom, or in the library. In fact, Headsprout Early Reading can be used on any Internet-connected computer.

The program allows the students to work independently, freeing you or your aides to monitor the entire class. You can listen for oral responses, provide encouragement, and offer support when needed.

Additionally, Headsprout Early Reading provides individual performance data after each episode, so you’ll always be up-to-date on your students’ reading progress. Supplemental materials supplied by Headsprout reinforce the lessons and allow further student evaluation.

It’s exciting to watch your students gain confidence in their reading skills. Listed below are some of the outcomes students will achieve:

Reading/decoding at the mid-Second Grade level y

Fluent knowledge of over 90 phonetic elements and over 100 sight words y

Potential reading vocabulary of over 5,000 words y

Progression from single word comprehension to building meaning and yinferential comprehension

Mastery of the skills and strategies necessary to succeed on standardized ytests

Ability to read hundreds of books from your approved reading lists y

More about Headsprout Early Reading

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Three Guiding Principles for Reading Success

Following the three principles outlined below will ensure that your students get the most out of Headsprout Early Reading.

Complete a minimum of three episodes a week

We’ve found that steady use gets the best results, and your students enjoy the consistency and reliability.

Speak out loud when this icon is on the screen

A little yellow face (our “Speak Aloud” icon) indicates an activity in which the learner is expected to say sounds, words, or sentences out loud.

Read all 80 Sprout Stories while progressing through the program

All Sprout Stories are printable as mini-books and full-page stories, or can be purchased from Headsprout. The stories are ready to read after the learner completes the corresponding episode. They can be read in a group reading activity, individually, or sent home to be read with parents.

Through diligent research and testing, we at Headsprout have identified these three essential strategies for the successful implementation of Headsprout Early Reading. A mini-poster of these principles comes free with any Headsprout print order and is also printable from your “My Headsprout” page under “Classroom Management Tools.”

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Pre-Plan: Headsprout Implementation

Here are some pre-planning suggestions (not listed in any particular order) to help you formulate a strategy for using Headsprout that is specific to your classroom:

Decide which students or reading groups will be using Headsprout (will you ybe able to have all your students on the program or just some of them?).

Decide where your students will be using Headsprout (in the classroom, ylibrary, computer lab, combination of various places, etc.).

Develop a schedule that works for you. Headsprout strongly recommends ythat students complete a minimum of three Headsprout episodes per week. A schedule will help make sure that all your students are getting on the program consistently and will help get your students into a routine. The “Classroom Management Tools” link contains a “Computer Schedule Calculator” to help with schedule creation.

Develop a schedule for making sure students read all 80 Sprout Stories. yThe Sprout Stories are essential to the program and offer additional reading practice at each learner’s exact reading level. Some schools purchase all of the Sprout Stories. For these schools, teachers will often create one or more classroom sets, or have enough copies made so that each student can be sent home with their own books. For more suggestions on incorporating the Sprout Stories, please see Section 5.

Develop a schedule for doing Benchmark Reading Assessments. These yassessments are a good indicator of how well your students can apply what they’re learning on the computer to actual printed text, so it’s important to do them and enter the data into our online system. We provide each teacher with a Benchmark Reading Assessment Folder containing 25 copies of the Individual Student Recording Form. We recommend printing additional copies of the form, if needed. You might also create either a Headsprout binder or an individual Headsprout folder for each student. See Section 6 for more about Benchmark Reading Assessment Folders.

Monitor student progress. Headsprout recommends spending 10-15 yminutes a week reviewing student data. For more details about the various reports available, please see Section 9.

Show your students their progress. It is important that your students feel ysuccessful in completing their Headsprout episodes, so we have a few ways in which you can chart your students’ progress. See Section 7 for ideas.

Set classroom goals. Some teachers find that if they set specific goals ywith their class (such as a First Grade class starting Headsprout in early September and reaching Episode 40 by the December break), it helps to ensure all 80 episodes are completed by the end of the school year. For help on setting specific goals, please contact the Implementation Department at 800.401.5062 Ext. 7800 or [email protected].

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Before your students sit down at their computers, there are a few things you, your aides, or the computer lab supervisor can do to get things started easier. Below are just a few suggestions (for further suggestions, please see Appendix F – Student and Classroom Readiness Chart).

Completing a Volume CheckTo complete a quick volume check on each computer:

Make sure the speakers and headphones are plugged in.1.

Check the volume control on headphones, speakers, and monitors.2.

Double-click the sound icon, located in the lower right corner of the 3. screen, to make sure volume is adjusted to an appropriate level and not muted. Use headphones to help prevent distractions from other students.

Moving the KeyboardKeyboards are not needed for students to use Headsprout Early Reading. Keyboards can be placed next to or behind the monitors if students need more room for the mouse or if keyboards become distracting to students using the program.

Group RotationDepending on the availability of computers and staff, students can be separated into small groups and can circulate among reading stations set up around the classroom. These may include a computer station to complete episodes, a flashcard station for practice, and a story reading station for story checkouts. Allow at least 30 minutes for each station. Set a timer to signal when it is time to switch stations. Allow several minutes of transition time between stations. To get an idea of how much time to budget for Headsprout, you can use the “Computer Schedule Calculator” that is available from the “Classroom Management Tools” link within your account.

Using the “Computer Schedule Calculator”

From your “My Headsprout” page, click on “Classroom Management Tools”1.

In the drop down menu, select “I want to know the hours per day needed 2. for Headsprout”

Click “Next”3.

Enter the number of Headsprout students in the class4.

Enter the number of available computers5.

Click “Next”6.

Headsprout Early Reading also fits well into the center time model or classroom station model. Teachers have found that when students rotate to the computer station, they are still receiving individualized instruction. Having Headsprout Early Reading is like having an individualized reading tutor for each student!

Getting Ready for the Online Session

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Setting Up the Computer Lab

If individual progress maps or group Classroom Progress Wall Charts will ybe used in the computer lab, make sure they are ready with the students’ names listed.

If Sprout Stories were purchased, ensure they are organized in a way ystudents will be able to access them.

Create a space to conduct Benchmark Reading Assessments. y

Create a way to keep track of Benchmark Reading Assessment results if yassessments will be conducted in the lab.

Identifying Expectations for Success

You may find it helpful to introduce a list of expectations before beginning Headsprout. Post the list of expectations in a prominent place and practice them with students in an on-going fashion. You may want to add a picture that represents each expectation where possible, such as a picture of a student “sitting tall.”

Sample Student Expectations:

Sit up tall in your chair. y

Keep your headphones plugged in. y

Say the sounds and words out loud when the computer tells you to. y

Always try your best to finish an episode. y

Signal an adult if you need help or when you are done with an episode. y

Students experience greater success with Headsprout Early Reading if they know exactly what they will need to do to complete an episode. Teachers who have used the program have found that these expectations help with classroom management and provide a fun-filled learning experience for their students. For more on expectations for success, please see Section 4.

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In this section we covered in more detail the benefits of Headsprout Early Reading, the Three Guiding Principles for Reading Success (completing three episodes per week, speaking out loud when prompted, and reading all 80 Sprout Stories), some pre-planning strategies before starting the program, and setting student expectations for success.

Section Summary

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Section 4:

Using Headsprout Early Reading in the Classroom or LabIn this section, you’ll find:

Getting Started .......................................................................30Using a Mouse ............................................................................... 30

Readiness Exercises ....................................................................... 30

Learning Objectives for Mousing Around ....................................... 31

Starting an Online Episode ......................................................31Identifying Expectations for Success .............................................. 32

During an Online Episode .......................................................33Signaling the Teacher: Help Signs ................................................... 33

Maximizing the Screen ................................................................... 33

Encouraging Students to Orally Respond to the Computer .............. 33

Between Activities – Loading Screens ............................................. 33

Pausing and Stopping .................................................................... 34

Stopping Before an Episode Is Complete ........................................ 34

Managing Episodes .................................................................35Completing Multiple Episodes in a Session ..................................... 35

Do You Have Ideas You’d Like to Share? .......................................... 35

Section Summary ...................................................................35


Section 4:

Using Headsprout Early Reading in the Classroom or Lab

Now that you’ve set up your teacher account, enrolled your students, and done some pre-planning, you’re ready to get started on the program with your students! This section will guide you through the experience of actually being with the students as they do the online episodes on computers.

Using a MouseIn order to be successful in Headsprout Early Reading, students will need to follow basic English instructions and use a mouse. We recommend that students use a computer mouse rather than a trackball, track pad or other pointing device. If the student is using a multi-button mouse, it may be helpful to place a textured sticker (such as a Velcro dot) on the button used to click (usually the left mouse button). Most students quickly learn left-click responding as they progress through the program. If a student clicks the wrong button, simply move the mouse and click the correct button. Some mouse devices allow for the other button to be disabled. Individual manufacturers will vary; see your mouse instruction booklet for details.

Readiness Exercises The Readiness Exercise for Headsprout Early Reading is called “Mousing Around.” “Mousing Around” not only teaches students how to use a mouse; it presents basic concepts and instructions that are found in Headsprout Early Reading (such as “first,” “next,” “last,” and “not”). “Mousing Around” is available from your “My Headsprout” page under the “Readiness Exercises” Header Icon. It is important that each student is able to complete “Mousing Around” independently before beginning the first episode. If a student starts Headsprout Early Reading and has trouble with mouse skills or following directions, have the student go back to “Mousing Around” and use it until the student can complete it independently. Then go back to Headsprout Early Reading and continue with the program.

Getting Started

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Learning Objectives for Mousing Around

Follow one-step directions y

Learn the concept of “not” y

Learn the concepts “first,” “next,” and “last” y

Practice pre-reading behavior (distinguish pictures from text) y

Practice left-to-right tracking y

Practice clicking with the left mouse button y

Practice a range of movements with a mouse y

Teach students to click the desktop icon (refer to Section 2 for how to set yup desktop icons), and then have students scroll to find their name.

Once students find their names, they should click on the green arrow. y

A blue arrow will then appear with the student’s name. Teach students to ydouble-check that it is their name displayed before clicking on the blue arrow to begin the lesson.

If you want to perform the above steps yourself before the students come yin, this is also an option. From your “My Headsprout” page, you can click on the green arrow below each student’s name. This will bring up the screen with the blue arrow, which will stay on screen for up to 20 minutes. Then students can simply click on the blue arrow to begin.

Starting an Online Episode

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Note

A Spanish language version of “Mousing Around” is available for Spanish-speaking ESL students. After completing Spanish “Mousing Around,” students should complete English “Mousing Around” before starting Episode 1.


Identifying Expectations for SuccessYou can help students experience greater success with Headsprout Early Reading by identifying exactly what they will need to do to complete an episode. Teachers who have used the program have found that the following expectations help with classroom management and provide a fun-filled learning experience for their students.

Teach students to know when it is their turn to use Headsprout. y

Make sure each student is wearing headphones and that the volume is on. y

Verify that students are completing their own Headsprout episodes. During ythe episode, the student’s name will appear in the bottom left corner of the blue Headsprout screen, making it easy for teachers to quickly verify.

Praise on-task behavior and keep an ear out for oral responding (as yindicated by the “Speak Aloud” icon). Redirect students as necessary.

Practice a “Headsprout voice.” It is expected that students speak out loud ywhen using Headsprout Early Reading. Headsprout wants to be sure that students are using an appropriate voice. The actual “Headsprout voice” is up to your discretion but should be loud enough to be audible and at an appropriate level so students aren’t disturbing one another. Modeling a “Headsprout voice” and practicing it with the whole class will help students know what will be expected of them.

Encourage students to know their episode number and finish their yepisodes.

Celebrate each student’s success. (Headsprout has a few ways to encourage yand celebrate student success. Please refer to Section 7 for suggestions.)

Remind students to signal each time they finish an episode or need help. y

If working in the computer lab, have students place headphones on top of ythe computer when it’s time to go back to class.

If working in the computer lab, have students know to line up at the door ywhen their row is called.

Teachers and computer lab managers can expect the computer lab to get a little noisy with students speaking out loud during certain parts of the episodes. This is okay—the headphones cancel out the noise for the students, and a room full of engaged students is good. Be sure to encourage the oral responding of students, as it is critical for success.

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After you decide on a good system for your class for starting up an episode, it becomes simpler each successive time. In this section we’ve included some suggestions about signaling, daily usage, pausing, and stopping.

Signaling the Teacher: Help SignsWhen using Headsprout Early Reading with multiple students, it’s helpful to determine a method of quickly identifying those who have completed episodes or need help. Here are some suggestions teachers have shared with us:

Teach students to remove their headphones and raise their hand when they yneed help.

Have students signal by placing a colorful plastic cup, a Velcro flag, or ysome other easily visible item on top of the monitor. This method of signaling allows teachers to quickly glance around to monitor students.

From your “My Headsprout” page, the “Classroom Management Tools” ylink contains “Help Signs” that you can paste to popsicle sticks or tongue depressors so students can raise them when they need assistance at the computer.

Maximizing the ScreenOn PCs, press the F11 key at the top of the keyboard once the program is loaded to maximize the screen image and hide other tool bars. This key command does not work with Apple or Macintosh computers.

Encouraging Students to Orally Respond to the ComputerProducing sounds accurately is a critical part of learning to read. Starting with Episode 3, the program will ask students to say sounds, then words, and finally sentences and stories out loud. Students should be orally responding to the computer whenever they see the “Speak Aloud” icon (a little yellow smiley face) at the bottom right side of the blue episode frame. This gives your students opportunities to practice their oral reading skills, which are necessary during other reading activities (including reading tests), and gives you the opportunity to reinforce or correct oral reading. Encouraging your students to answer loudly and clearly is one of the single most important things you can do.

Between Activities - Loading ScreensSometimes, between instructional activities, you will see a “loading screen” and a game-like activity for the student to do. The loading screen indicates that the next part of the episode is being downloaded from the Internet. These loading times should be relatively short, and during this time the student can play a variety of fun games just by moving and clicking the mouse.

During an Online Episode

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Pausing and StoppingYou can help students experience greater success with Headsprout Early Reading by identifying exactly what they will need to do to complete an episode. Teachers who have used the program have found that the following expectations help with classroom management and provide a fun-filled learning experience for their students.

Note

If your computers are experiencing frequent long delays (greater than 2-3 minutes), you may want to contact your school or district’s technology staff. Headsprout has a wealth of resources for your school or district’s Technology Specialists and can work with them to make your Headsprout experience as smooth as possible. For more information about technical troubleshooting, please contact our Technical Support Department by calling 800.401.5062 Ext. 7300 or emailing [email protected].

Stopping Before an Episode Is CompleteIf a student needs to stop an episode before completely finishing, the program will resume at the same spot the next time that student signs in. You can also choose to restart that episode from the beginning. If two weeks have passed since the student stopped the episode, it will automatically start at the beginning when resumed. There are two ways you can stop an episode::

Option 1: Close the window by clicking on the little x or the red circle, and ythen open your “My Headsprout” page again.

Option 2: Hit the browser “Back” button quickly two times. This will return yyou to your “My Headsprout” page.


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Managing Episodes

Completing Multiple Episodes in a SessionEach episode is approximately 20 to 30 minutes long and involves over 180 learner interactions. If a student has completed an episode and is eager to do another, think about whether the student will be successful in another episode. It is much better for a student to end an episode wanting more than to try another episode and then quit while tired or frustrated. It’s a good idea to have students take a short break (to move around, stretch, or get a drink) between consecutive episodes.

Do You Have Ideas You’d Like to Share?Headsprout strives to make implementation of our programs easy for teachers. We also know that many teachers have creative ideas about how to implement Headsprout Early Reading. If you are interested in sharing your ideas with Headsprout so that we can share them with other educators, please call 800.401.5062 Ext. 7800 or email [email protected].

Section Summary

This section described Headsprout’s readiness exercise, “Mousing Around,” which is available for students to use from your “My Headsprout” page. It also discussed implementing Headsprout Early Reading in the classroom or lab, gave sample student expectations and suggestions, and described what it will be like to start and run an actual episode.


Section 5:

Sprout Stories™


What Are the Sprout Stories? ................................................... 38Types of Sprout Stories .................................................................. 38

Getting the Sprout Stories into the Hands of Your Readers ...... 39

Using Sprout Stories in the Classroom .................................... 42Independent Reading ..................................................................... 42

Reading Groups ............................................................................. 42

Reading in Pairs (With Peers or Older Students) .............................. 42

Sprout Story Analysis and Leveling ......................................... 44

Section Summary ................................................................... 45


Section 5:

Sprout Stories™

Headsprout Early Reading includes 80 illustrated stories that students can read, color, and share after completing online episodes. These stories help promote a love of reading and reinforce the sounds, words, and skills learned in Headsprout Early Reading. The stories are keyed to specific episodes and include only sounds and words the learner has been prepared by the program to read. Book icons, which appear in the online lessons and are prominently displayed on the learner’s progress map, indicate that it’s time for a story.

Types of Sprout StoriesTo represent the diversity found in good reading experiences, Headsprout Early Reading uses five story types:

Headsprout ReadersThe 12 Headsprout Readers give your students direct practice with the skills taught in the online episodes. These full-color mini-books of the online stories are the books you use to conduct Benchmark Reading Assessments to gauge your students’ reading progress.

Companion StoriesThe 34 Companion Stories give your students the opportunity to practice their reading skills with a brand new story not taught online. They contain words from the program and new words that your students should be able to sound out.

Read with Me StoriesThe 13 Read with Me Stories are meant to be read with an adult or a more able reader. Your students will participate by reading and listening. There is regular text for adults to read and larger, bold text for your students. Together with the pictures, these texts tell a fun and engaging story.

What Are the Sprout Stories?

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Getting the Sprout Stories into the Hands of Your Readers

Episode StoriesThe 14 Episode Stories are first read online. These stories come at the end of an episode in order to practice the sounds and words presented in that episode. They also introduce new, or novel, words, and present comprehension questions. Starting with Episode 56, most of the episodes finish with an Episode Story.

Chapter StoriesThe seven Chapter Stories are broken up into chapters of varying length and difficulty. Some Chapter Stories are narrative in style and others are expository. These are the most complex of all the Sprout Stories, and you will see an increase in vocabulary and novel words as well as general reading endurance.

Although there are 80 online episodes and 80 Sprout Stories, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between each episode and story. Stories occur less frequently in the earlier episodes, where students are acquiring early reading skills and building their repertoires of sounds and words. Starting at Episode 40, there is at least one Sprout Story to accompany every online episode.

As the students’ skills and reading vocabularies grow, the stories increase in frequency, length, and complexity. The Sprout Stories page (found by clicking on “Printable Student Materials” from your “My Headsprout” page) provides a quick look at which episodes contain what stories. Materials like the “Sprout Stories Checklist” and the “Progress Maps” (also under “Printable Student Materials”) help teachers and students keep track of what stories have been read.

The Sprout Stories are one of the best ways to give your students the reading practice they need for success. It is important that students use the mini-books to encourage their love of reading. We hope you’ll find the suggestions below useful in getting the Sprout Stories into the hands of your students.

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Individual Printed Mini-Book for Each LearnerHeadsprout makes it affordable for schools to buy a pre-printed set of all 80 mini-books for each student in each Headsprout class. Imagine providing a child and his or her family with their own set of 80 books. In a typical class, this means sending home more than 2,000 fully readable books over the course of a single school year!

To help raise money for the mini-books, your Parent Teacher Organization could organize a book drive centered on early literacy. Imagine a campaign where the goal is to get a set of 80 books for each beginning reader, so each child would own a collection of books that he or she could read successfully!

Tip

Throughout the year parents could be responsible for printing or photocopying two Sprout Stories and bringing in enough copies so that each student in the class can have one to take home.

Classroom “Library” SetAs an alternative to purchasing mini-books for every child, schools can purchase a few sets for each classroom library. Students can then check them out when they have completed the appropriate episode. Many teachers allow the students to take the books home to read to family members and bring them back in a day or so. Sending home a sign-off or comment form for parents to fill in is great for keeping parents involved.

As a way to keep track of the books and keep them from getting damaged, have students carry the books in baggies. In addition to the baggies, some teachers have shared that they also have a sticker or label on the baggie so they can quickly note the books that are checked in and out.

Individual Copies of the Blackline MastersBlackline masters of the Sprout Stories can be found in Headsprout’s Sprout Stories Kit. These can be used to make photocopies of stories for each student or each classroom. The blackline masters are available as full-page sheets. They’re also great for coloring!

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For ease in organization, the Sprout Stories Kit already includes tabbed dividers which file the stories according to episode number and story title. Keeping these as originals, make additional copies of the stories (a small number like five or ten to start off with), and teach students that if they choose a story that is labeled with a highlighted “O” (for original) to then do one of the following:

Take the original and go ask the front desk to make five more copies. y

Stand the original up vertically so that at the end of the day the teacher yknows he/she needs to make more copies.

Some teachers choose to create a file folder for each student containing a copy of each Sprout Story. When students complete an episode, they can get the story from their own file.

Tip

To help keep track of originals, use a highlighter to label original copies. Highlighted marks don’t show up when copies are made.

When an Episode Is Finished: Printing Sprout StoriesEvery one of your students will have their own Sprout Stories page that tells them which story they’re ready to read. They’ll know that a new Sprout Story is ready for them when the book icon appears in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

You might find it useful to teach your students to access their Sprout Stories page. To get there, have them click on the Sprout Stories icon to the right of their names on the “My Headsprout” page. A list of all the stories will appear. The stories that are colored in are the ones ready to be read (the first story is ready after Episode 5). When you click on a story title, it will show up in a small preview screen. Printing options are directly below the preview screen.

There are two ways the stories can be printed: as coloring books (full-page, 8.5 x 11 on one side), or as mini-books (front and back, ready to be folded booklet style). Under “Print Options,” you or your students can choose the desired format, then simply click “Print This Story.”

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Using Sprout Stories in the Classroom

The “Sprout Story Reading Tracker” and “Sprout Stories Checklists” are two tools Headsprout has created to provide a comprehensive list of all 80 Sprout Stories. These lists make it easy for you to keep track of which stories have been read and by which student. The “Sprout Story Reading Tracker” can be found under the “Classroom Management Tools” link in your Headsprout account. The “Sprout Stories Checklists” can be found under “Printable Student Materials.”

Independent ReadingAs they become available, students should read all 80 Sprout Stories to an experienced reader. Afterwards, students can continue to build fluency by re-reading their stories during independent or silent reading periods.

Reading GroupsSprout Stories are ideal for classroom reading groups. Your students can get valuable experience reading the Companion Stories to each other, and the Read with Me Stories allow students to practice listening and reading. Headsprout has leveled the stories a few different ways, making it easy to add Sprout Stories into your various reading groups (e.g., Guided Reading Groups). More information on the Sprout Story Analysis and Leveling Guide can be found later in this section.

Tip

For whole class or small group reading circles, students can choose which stories to bring to the group to read out loud.

Reading in Pairs (With Peers or Older Students)Many teachers like using peer reading to make sure their students have additional reading opportunities. You can create a system where students read the non-Benchmark Sprout Stories to another student, and then the more experienced reader “signs off” on the checklist that the student read the story. This is another great opportunity if you have a class of older students who want to assist beginning readers.

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Ensuring All Stories Are Read – Tips from Other Teachers

Below are a few creative ways teachers have shared with us to make sure their students read all the Sprout Stories.

Tip 1: When a student finishes an episode with a corresponding Sprout Story, allow him or her to get a book from the lab monitor and walk to any nearby classroom with an open door. The teacher in that class then chooses a student who is on task and, as a reward, lets him or her take the Headsprout student aside and listen as the book is read.

Tip 2: Another variation of the tip above is to ask the staff to make themselves available to any student who wants to read them a story. After finishing an online episode, students get permission from the teacher or lab instructor and take a copy of their story with them to find an adult to read to.

Tip 3: Have the lab instructor be responsible for the online lessons and the classroom teacher responsible for listening to students read the Sprout Stories. When a student is ready to read one of the Sprout Stories, the lab instructor fills out a slip of paper with the student’s name and the title of their story. Students are very proud to present these slips to the classroom teacher.

Tip 4: Enable Home Access and encourage parents or caregivers to print the Sprout Stories and listen to their child read.

Tip 5: Use parent volunteers, teacher aides, librarians, etc., to listen to students read the Sprout Stories, while the teacher focuses mainly on the 12 Benchmark Readers.

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Sprout Story Analysis and Leveling

Headsprout strives to stay current with leveling systems used by your school and schools across the nation. We have correlated the Sprout Stories to several of the most commonly used leveling systems based on text and story characteristics, including:

Fountas and Pinnell Guided Reading Levels �

Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA) Levels �

Rigby, Basal, and Grade Levels �

As students progress through Headsprout Early Reading, the number of words per sentence and per page increases, as do the complexity of the sentence structure, the vocabulary used, and the punctuation used in the story. These characteristics contribute to the increase in reading levels across stories.

Note

Headsprout does not endorse any specific leveling system. The leveling systems included in this document represent those most frequently used in schools. The level determined for each Sprout Story is subjective, and may change as additional objective measures are developed. Teachers are strongly encouraged to adjust level designations in accordance with their or their site’s own determinations, and are encouraged to share those determinations with Headsprout.

For a more in-depth look at our analysis, please refer to our Sprout Story Analysis and Leveling Guide found on our website at http://www.headsprout.com/school/teacherResources.cfm and click on “PDF” next to “Sprout Story Analysis and Leveling Guide.”


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Section Summary

This section covered the 80 Sprout Stories, which are essential to the success of Headsprout Early Reading. We looked at the five types of Sprout Stories, explored the various ways to make available copies of the stories for each of your students, listed tips from other teachers on how to make sure students read all the stories, and briefly discussed Headsprout’s analysis and leveling system.


Section 6:Benchmark Reading Assessments


Benchmark Reading Assessments ............................................ 48Ways to Know a Student Is Ready for a Benchmark Reading Assessment ..................................................... 48

Conducting a Benchmark Reading Assessment ................................ 49

Organizing Benchmark Reading Assessment Data ........................... 50

Inputting Benchmark Reading Assessment Scores ........................... 50

Handling Errors When Reading Aloud ....................................... 51Episodes 1-23 ................................................................................. 51

Episodes 24-40 ............................................................................... 52

Episodes 41–80 ............................................................................... 52

Section Summary .................................................................... 53


Section 6:

Benchmark Reading Assessments

The Benchmark Reading Assessments are placed throughout Headsprout Early Reading at landmark points so that you can evaluate and record how your students are doing as they progress through the program. The Sprout Stories called Headsprout Readers are used when teachers conduct the Benchmark Reading Assessments to gauge the oral reading proficiency of students. Benchmark Reading Assessments occur after Episodes 5, 11, 18, 23, 30, 40, 47, 52, 55, 66, 72, and 77.

Benchmark Reading Assessments take just a few minutes and can be done right at the computer. In addition, inputting the data online makes it easy to analyze progress and share data with other teachers, administrators, and parents.

Ways to Know a Student is Ready for a Benchmark Reading AssessmentHeadsprout provides many ways for you to know when your students are ready for a Benchmark Reading Assessment (Headsprout Reader):

During episodes followed by a Headsprout Reader, a book icon with the 1. initials HR will appear in the bottom right of the screen.

There will be a reminder in the episode notes that are shown on the screen 2. with the blue arrow.

On the students’ individual Progress Maps (purchased separately), all 3. episodes that are followed by Headsprout Readers are noted with an open book and listed book number.

On the classroom Progress Wall Charts (purchased separately), all episodes 4. that are followed by Headsprout Readers are bold and a book icon is shown in the column.

On the Headsprout Progress Cards, Headsprout Readers are denoted by 5. bold numbers.

Benchmark Reading Assessments

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On the Benchmark Reading Assessment Folder, the episodes are listed 6. across the top.

On the Benchmark Reading Assessment form, the episode numbers are 7. listed, along with all of the words.

In the Sprout Story Analysis and Leveling Guide, stories are listed in 8. multiple ways, and Headsprout Readers are always noted (either explicitly, or by being shaded in).

And of course, your students will tell you!9.

Conducting a Benchmark Reading Assessment Select the student’s Benchmark Reading Assessment Form. These forms 1. are available in multiple places, including the Benchmark Reading Assessment Folders, the Sprout Stories Kit, and online from your “My Headsprout” page by clicking on the “Assessments” Quick Link.

Give the Headsprout Reader to the student and instruct him or her to 2. do his or her best to read the entire book. Allow ample time (five to ten seconds) for the student to read each word independently before prompting.

Mark an X on words that are skipped or read incorrectly (errors).3.

When students make errors in Benchmark Reading Assessments prior to 4. Episode 23, tell the student the word. Following Episode 23, prompt the student to sound out the word (use letter sounds, not letter names, as you prompt). For sight words or “unknown” words, provide the word and have the student re-read the sentence to help preserve the meaning of the story.

Record the total number of words read correctly (including unprompted 5. self-corrects).

Record the rating (I=Independent, S=Satisfactory, N=Needs Practice).6.

Record the date that the story was read.7.

Use the score to follow the recommendations on the back of the 8. Benchmark Folder.

Enter the scores online.9.

Tip

Keeping the Benchmark Reading Assessment Folders close to the computer helps serve as a reminder to conduct the Benchmark Reading Assessments.

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Organizing Benchmark Reading Assessment Data Benchmark Reading Assessment Folders make it easy to keep track of assessment data. Write student names in the left column, then check off each Headsprout Reader Benchmark as completed.

Inputting Benchmark Reading Assessment Scores Once you have your students’ scores, we highly recommend you enter them online as part of their permanent Headsprout performance record. Here’s how:

From your “My Headsprout” page, click on “Enter Scores.”1.

Click on “I have scores for one student,” or “I have scores for multiple 2. students.”

Follow the on-screen instructions.3.

Benchmark Reading Assessment data must be entered within 30 days of completing the assessment.

Tip

Enter Benchmark Assessment data while in the computer lab, even as soon as a student has finished the story.

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Because of the cumulative skill-building nature of Headsprout Early Reading, oral reading errors should be handled differently at different phases of the program. In addition, other types of errors should be handled differently. For example, an error made on a decodable word (a word that can be sounded out) shouldn’t be handled the same as an error made on an irregular word (a “sight” word, or a word that can’t be sounded out). Below is a breakdown of how to handle errors based on where the student is in the program and what type of error is made. Follow these suggestions when the student is reading from print materials or is reading aloud within the online program. The suggestions are also great to share with parents!

Important: When students are learning to sound out words or to blend sounds together to say words, it is extremely important that they hold each sound, saying it “the long way” as it is said in Headsprout Early Reading.

Episodes 1-23In the first few episodes, students work on correct discrimination of sounds and words. Students practice seeing and saying sounds, but they may not be able to do so on their own until further into the program. Here are some suggestions on how to handle common errors your students may make as they progress through the first set of episodes.

Mispronounces a Sound or Adds a Vowel to a SoundSay the sound, then have the student say it. It is important to hold the sounds and say them the long way, the way /n/, /s/, and /r/ are said in the program. Make sure the student is looking at the sound when he or she says it. Praise the effort.

When saying sounds, it is easy to add a vowel after a consonant, but this makes it harder to segment and blend later on. Be sure students are saying pure consonant sounds such as /p/ and /t/, not /pu/ and /tu/. Correct students early on before they begin practicing them the wrong way.

Says Letter Names Instead of Letter SoundsHeadsprout recommends not referring to the sounds by their letter names, especially when helping students with reading errors. Instead, put your index finger under the sound and say, “What sound does it make?”

Mispronounces a Decodable or Irregular WordSay the word, then have the student say it. You can demonstrate sounding out a decodable word for the student by putting your index finger on the starting point and moving it, holding each sound until you say the next, then saying the word fast. Next say something like, “Now you do it. Sound it out slowly and then say it fast.” If the student is reading a sentence or a story, prompt the student to go back to the beginning of the sentence and read the sentence again. Repeat as necessary.

Handling Errors When Reading Aloud

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Episodes 24-40The skills for independently sounding out have all been brought together by Episode 24. With some practice, students should be able to sound out completely novel words composed of the taught sounds. Here are some suggestions on how to handle particular errors your students may make as they progress through the second part of the program.

Pauses Between Sounds When Sounding Out a Word (Doesn’t Link the Sounds)Say, “Remember to say the sounds the long way.” If the student still has trouble, demonstrate sounding out the word for the student, then have him or her try it independently.

Skips a Sound When Sounding Out a WordSay, “Remember to say all the sounds. Start at the beginning of the word.”

Does Not Start with the First Sound When Sounding Out a WordSay, “Put your index finger at the starting point,” and then say, “Start here.”

Mispronounces a Decodable WordSay, “Try sounding out the word.” If the student sounds out the word correctly, praise the effort. If the student cannot sound out the word, demonstrate sounding out the word for the student, then have him or her try it independently. If the student is reading a sentence or a story, prompt the student to go back to the beginning of the sentence and read it again.

Mispronounces an Irregular WordSay, “Look at the word again and try to say it.” If the student still cannot remember the word, say the word for the student. If the student is reading a sentence or a story, prompt the student to go back to the beginning of the sentence and read the sentence again.

Episodes 41-80Students should be able to sound out unfamiliar words composed of sounds they have already been taught, regardless of whether the words appear in isolation or in context. Students are also taught to sound out new words in which all of the sounds are known in isolation but the pronunciation is off by a sound. We call this strategy “ballparking.”

Mispronounces a Ballpark WordSay, “That word sounds funny. Sound it out. What real word do you know that sounds like it?” If the student cannot sound out the word, demonstrate sounding out the word for the student and give the student an opportunity to say the real word fast. If the student correctly says the real word, prompt the student to independently sound out the word and say it fast. Repeat as necessary (examples: bank, door, flipped, another). If the student is reading a sentence or a story, prompt the student to go back to the beginning of the sentence and read the sentence again.

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Guesses Words When Reading a Sentence or StoryHave the student stop at the word (or go back to it) and refer to instructions for decodable, irregular, or ballpark words. Prompt the student to go back to the beginning of the sentence and read the sentence again. Repeat as necessary.

Refuses to Read Longer Stories On-screenSay, “It may look like a lot of words, but you can do it.” Provide encouragement for reading the first sentence, second sentence, etc.

Section Summary

This section provided information on when and how to conduct Benchmark Reading Assessments to help ensure that students are transferring what they are learning on the computer to actual printed text. Instructions for entering your scores online were provided, as well as suggestions for how to handle errors that students make while reading out loud. These suggestions are a great resource to pass on to parents.

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Section 7:Enrichment


Additional Headsprout Activities ............................................ 56Sprout Cards ................................................................................. 56

Headsprout Activity Center .................................................... 57Activity Center Ideas ...................................................................... 58

Tracking Progress .................................................................. 60

Popular Readable Stories ....................................................... 60

Section Summary .................................................................. 61


Section 7:

Enrichment

Headsprout Early Reading can be easily integrated into any classroom curriculum. You will find countless opportunities to reinforce and expand the skills your students learn online. Here are a few easy activity suggestions, many of which were provided by classroom teachers.

Sprout CardsHeadsprout provides flashcards that students can use to further practice the sounds and words taught in Headsprout Early Reading. Sprout Cards are grouped in sets according to episode. Each set of cards features phonetic elements and characters from the most recent block of episodes. Sprout Cards can be purchased in complete sets or printed from the “Printable Student Materials” link on your “My Headsprout” page.

Printing Sprout CardsSprout Cards are formatted for easy printing on standard business card stock. For best results, use Avery size #8371 business card paper. To download and print Sprout Cards:

From the “My Headsprout” page, click on “Printable Student Materials”1.

Click on “Flashcards”2.


Additional Headsprout Activities

Tip

Printing the Sprout Cards on different colored paper and placing the cards in baggies is a quick way to stay organized.

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Sprout Card Activities

Practice: Ask your students to read the sounds and words on the y cards individually and in groups.

Matching: Your students can match sounds to words, words to words, or ywords to pictures (some sprout cards have pictures on them).

Word Building: Your students can create words, either nonsense or real, by ycombining different sounds together to make words. For more structured play, you can ask your students to create specific sentences using the sounds and words, or ask them to create their own sentences, and then copy their sentences down onto paper as a writing activity.

Go Fish: Print multiple sets of cards, divide the class into pairs, and yhave your students play Go Fish using cards that feature their current Headsprout sounds and words.

Slap Jack: Print several sets of cards and select a word of the day. Have your ystudents play “against” each other by being the first to slap the pile of cards that has the word of the day on it. The player with the most cards wins.

Group Response Cards: Give each student a small stack of cards. Say ythe name of a particular word or card and ask students to hold up the appropriate card.

Headsprout Bingo: Make Bingo sheets to practice finding Headsprout ysounds and words.

Headsprout Activity Center

Make your own Headsprout Activity Center, complete with Sprout Stories to read and color, as well as Sprout Card games. You may want to include posters, art supplies, and other games, such as Headsprout Bingo, to help integrate Headsprout Early Reading into your class curriculum in a meaningful way. Headsprout also has Worksheets that can be accessed from the “Printable Student Materials” link on your “My Headsprout” page. These “Sprout Sheets” include Word to Picture Match, Fill in the Blank, and Handwriting sheets for use after specific episodes.

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Activity Center Ideas

Take-Home UseInclude a set of Sprout Cards with each take-home book you send home. Over the course of the year, your students will enjoy teaching their families the games they have learned in the classroom.

My DictionaryGive each student a notebook in which to record words and phrases learned in Headsprout episodes.

Writing PracticeHave your students practice writing words and sentences from the Headsprout episode they have read most recently. They can make their own books and draw their own pictures. Students can also use the Headsprout Handwriting sheets.

Writing JournalHave your students keep a running list of Headsprout words in their writing notebooks. It’s very easy to create a word bank sheet using these words.

Create a Paper Word SearchProvide your students with a word search based on the words and phrases they’ve learned in Headsprout episodes.

Sound and Word HuntEncourage your students to search the classroom and school grounds for sounds and words they’ve learned.

Review of Sounds and WordsOnce students begin the program, you might find it useful to conduct a class review of all the sounds and words encountered in previous episodes. Before each Headsprout session, consult your class printout from the last completed online session and compare it to the Overview of Headsprout Sounds and Words found in Appendix H. Be sure that all your students have completed the episodes to be reviewed—it is important that the words and sounds are reinforced and not introduced.

Choral responding, in which children respond at the same time during teacher-led instruction, is a structured way to determine who remembers the sounds and words and who needs additional practice.

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Leading a Choral Response Activity

Write the sounds and words on the board.1.

Put your finger in front of the first sound or word. Say, “What sound is 2. this?”

Pause for a few seconds to give the students some “think time.”3.

Lift your finger off, and then tap it on the board in the same place where 4. you were pointing.

Tell the students to say the sound or word together.5.

Listen for errors. If any error occurs, call on a student to say the sound, 6. then repeat the process until all the students are responding correctly.

Repeat this process for each sound and word in the episode.7.

Hand PuppetsEngaging hand puppets, 25 of which are available when you purchase the Headsprout Celebration Kit, can be used for many different classroom activities. Here are a few ideas:

Use puppets to lead online Headsprout sessions. Puppet characters can 1. guide your students to the computer and indicate when the session is ending.

Puppets make review activities fun and entertaining. Have a puppet 2. character help the class read the Sprout Cards.

During round robin reading, let the student reading hold a puppet. 3. Working with a puppet can relieve a reluctant reader’s anxiety about reading aloud.

Playing with puppets is a tremendous motivator for students. Set up a 4. puppet and use it as a reward for completing episodes, reading a story successfully, or other accomplishments.

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Tracking Progress

Learning to read can feel like a long process, so it’s helpful for your students to see that they are making progress. The Headsprout Progress Map, the Headsprout Progress Chart, and the Classroom Progress Wall Chart are three ways in which students can track what they have completed, where they are, and where they are going. These charts also show the worlds of Headsprout Early Reading and many of the characters and events your students will encounter along the way.

Progress MapsThe Headsprout Progress Map is a great motivator for students. They love seeing the Headsprout characters and worlds and enjoy marking the map each time they finish an episode. The maps allow your students to track what episode number they are currently on, what episode comes next, and when they are ready for the next Headsprout Reader. Progress maps can be kept in students’ desks or displayed on bulletin boards in the classroom or lab.

Classroom Progress Wall ChartsIf you’d like to display a chart that shows the progress of every student in your class, a Classroom Progress Wall Chart is the best option. These can be ordered from Headsprout, or you can create your own. Using poster board, list episode numbers at the top and your students’ names down the side. Put a checkmark or sticker in the corresponding column each time a student finishes an episode.

Popular Readable Stories

Most learners that complete the 80 episodes of Headsprout Early Reading will be able to read a wide variety of popular trade books. It can be somewhat difficult to choose just the right book—one that has some challenges, yet is still within the learner’s reading ability, and most of all, is fun. Upon request, Headsprout can send you a list of trade books, grouped by general age or grade level, that your students will enjoy reading. Students who have completed Headsprout Early Reading should be able to read at least 80% of the words in these books while gaining valuable reading practice. Most of these books can be found in the public library or in bookstores.

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Section Summary

Headsprout offers a variety of enrichment materials for your classroom, including Sprout Cards, hand puppets, and Progress Maps. This section discussed ways to use these materials in your classroom and listed several other suggestions for fun enrichment activities.

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Section 8:Tips for Diverse Learners


Diverse Learners in Your Classroom ....................................... 64Preparing a List of Focus Students ................................................. 64

Helping Students Who Need Special Attention ................................ 64

Setting Up a Point Chart for an Individual Student .......................... 64

Fading Out a Point Chart ................................................................ 65

Students with Special Needs .......................................................... 66

Working with Students with Visually Impairments .......................... 66

Working with ELL Students ............................................................. 67

Sprout Stories – Reading Intervention Recommendations ........ 68

Home Use ............................................................................. 70

Section Summary .................................................................. 71


Section 8:

Tips for Diverse Learners

As a teacher, you’ve seen many times over that each student has different needs. This section will give you some suggestions and guidelines for how to assist learners with specific areas in which they could benefit from some extra encouragement, practice, focus, or guidance.

Preparing a List of Focus StudentsIt could be very helpful to highlight the names of students on your Class-Wide Percent Correct report who have not completed an episode during the last two online sessions or whose overall percent correct has fallen below 80%. Monitor those students and provide extra encouragement and support for them. This may include observing them more closely to find out why they’re having trouble completing a particular part of an episode, putting them at a different computer to minimize distractions and make it easier for you to monitor, and increasing praise and encouragement for more difficult segments.

Helping Students Who Need Special AttentionSome students may have behavior issues that interfere with completing episodes, such as an inability to listen to instructions for 20 minutes. A point chart can help these students “learn how to learn” by providing positive reinforcement for appropriate behaviors. Point charts are easy to implement for individual students and can be faded out quickly. You can use the blank point charts found in Appendix G, or create your own according to your needs. Below, we offer some suggestions on managing point charts.

Setting Up a Point Chart for an Individual StudentChoose an item or activity that the student likes, such as a sticker, a positive note sent home from the teacher, or extra recess time. Invite the student to play a game that allows him or her to earn this reward through exhibiting target behaviors. For some students, earning points, stickers, or stamps may be enough of an incentive to get them engaged in the program. The ultimate goal is to get students excited about completing an entire episode on their own and learning to read.

Diverse Learners in Your Classroom

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Print the student’s name on a blank point chart. Points can be recorded 1. with written marks, rubber stamps, or stickers.

Invite the student to play a game. Specify how the student can earn points 2. by following classroom expectations (see Sample Student Expectations in Section 3). Be very specific about what target behaviors will earn points and state the behaviors in a positive manner (for example, say “Students should sit up tall in their chairs” instead of “Students should not get out of their chairs”). It may be helpful to demonstrate examples and non-examples of the target behaviors.

For each student, set a visual and easily obtainable goal (the number 3. of points that needs to be earned during a computer session) that can be adjusted for each episode as necessary. Highlight the goal box as a reminder for the student.

Immediately mark a box on the chart when you see the student engaging 4. in any of the target behaviors. Provide descriptive praise. You might say, “I like the way you are saying the sounds out loud and keeping your headphones on.” Catch your student being good!

Give out points on a semi-random basis as you circulate around the room. 5. Be sure to provide enough opportunities for the student to earn all of the necessary points to meet the goal for the session. Be careful not to penalize a student because you weren’t able to give out all of the points that were earned.

If a student meets the goal for the session, present him or her with a 6. reward and provide lots of attention and specific praise. The student will enjoy bringing home a completed point chart with your positive comments on the back.

Fading Out a Point ChartThe use of the point chart can be quickly faded out. Begin by using the point chart throughout each daily session. Once you begin to see the target behaviors occurring independently or with less prompting, you can use the point chart as a reward at the end of the session by writing a positive comment on the back of the chart if the student followed directions for the entire computer session.

Next, begin to use the chart every other day, and then once a week. The student will have developed the basic endurance and attending skills needed to complete an entire episode without the need of a point chart. You may even notice increased attending skills during other classroom activities!

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Students with Special NeedsAlthough Headsprout has been designed for and tested with “typical” learners, a number of teachers whose students have reading delays or special needs have been pleased with the results they’ve seen. Students with disabilities vary in numerous ways, including the type, degree, and number of disabilities they have, as well as the effect the disabilities have on the learner’s educational progress. While students with disabilities are a diverse group, research indicates there are potential benefits to computer-based instruction. Technology has been shown to enhance a student’s acquisition of skills and content knowledge when the computer is used to deliver well-designed and well-managed instruction. In addition, it has been found that students with mild learning disabilities often demonstrate higher-level performance and attention to detail working on multimedia projects than they normally exhibit. Much of a program’s effectiveness depends on the special need or challenge, and the particular individual.

Working with Students with Visually ImpairmentsOccasionally, learners have a hard time seeing the screen, but their eyesight isn’t bad enough to receive special attention, so they continue to be mainstreamed. However, work on the computer can often be hard and tiresome for these learners. Below is a way that we have found to help visually impaired learners. A Windows (Microsoft) operating system is required on the system where the student completes the online episodes.

Solution 1:

Click on your “Start” menu at the bottom of the screen1.

Click on “All Programs”2.

Click on “Accessories”3.

Click on “Accessibility”4.

Click on “Magnifier”5.

Use your mouse to move the magnifier around.

Solution 2: You can download a driver for the mouse you are using. One site that you can go to for this is http://www.microsoft.com/hardware/downloads/default.mspx. Once this is downloaded, a few specific questions about the mouse your student is using will be asked. Please note that this driver needs to be downloaded, so you may need to ask your school’s technical support person if you have permissions to download drivers.

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Working with ELL StudentsStudents with limited English proficiency or who are learning English as a second language require extra support as they shift to English. Below are some ways that Headsprout Early Reading can assist English Language Learners.

Note

From your “My Headsprout” page, click on the “Classroom Management Tools” link for additional ELL activity resources.

Spanish Mousing AroundThis readiness module prepares native Spanish speakers for Headsprout Early Reading. It helps students become familiar with the program’s language of instruction in Spanish first and then in English. Students should use Spanish Mousing Around until they can complete the module independently. Then, they should use the English version of Mousing Around, repeating it until independent, before starting Episode 1 of Headsprout Early Reading. Both versions of Mousing Around (English and Spanish) are accessed by clicking on the “Readiness Exercises” icon near the top of the “My Headsprout” page. Both can be used as often as needed.

Headsprout builds skills by providing regular contact with clearly spoken oral English and provides multiple opportunities to speak English aloudHeadsprout Early Reading starts at the non-reader level and begins systematically teaching fundamental reading skills from there. Knowledge of letter names or sounds is not assumed, and our Mousing Around activity ensures learners have the basic computer and instruction comprehension skills needed to begin. Each lesson builds upon previous material learned, and English oral language models are presented through instruction, vocabulary exercises, storyline, and comprehension activities, all with engaging animation. Throughout the program, learners have the opportunity to make oral responses and check the accuracy of their own responses.

Headsprout provides concentrated, effective, individualized instruction, which allows students to learn at their own level and paceHeadsprout’s carefully designed instructional sequence allows learners to start with things they know or can easily do and builds from there. High amounts of one-on-one learning are needed by many English language learners in order to succeed at reading in English. Headsprout Early Reading provides over 180 individualized interactions within each 20-minute episode. Headsprout’s individualized adaptive instruction is like having an instructional aide for each student. With Headsprout, you can provide individualized instruction in critical learning areas to all your students, every school day.

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Headsprout teaches until objectives are met, individualizing instruction yet making sure each student meets key program objectivesHeadsprout’s instruction is tailored to meet the needs of each learner—and ensures that those needs are met before the lesson comes to an end. In Headsprout, students practice and learn until they’ve mastered the skill. The program ensures that a learner does not exit an instructional segment without achieving that specific learning goal. Headsprout manages this by its moment-to-moment adaptation; although the core instruction is the same for all learners, some learners may require more instruction, practice, or even a specialized set of instructions based on their needs, and these subroutines are available to provide extra skill building and reinforcement whenever needed. Headsprout is effective because it provides English Language Learners with the additional practice and review needed to achieve the same educational goals as their peers.

Headsprout helps teachers remain in constant contact with student dataHeadsprout provides ongoing individual and group performance data that you can use to inform your decisions. The program continually assesses during teaching, and the performance reports allow you to monitor student progress and better understand each student’s unique strengths and needs.

Sprout Stories – Reading Intervention Recommendations

Headsprout has found that students who read the Sprout Stories consistently have better outcomes from the program. Twelve of the stories, the Headsprout Readers, serve as Benchmark Reading Assessments designed to help assess reading progress at key points in the program. Most students read the stories fluently and accurately. Some may need additional support.

Note

If students’ reading fluency is low, you may want to provide targeted fluency practice. Headsprout’s frequency-building materials and included fluency aims are an additional tool to bring students’ reading rate and accuracy up to fluency.

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For stories read at 80% to 100% correct, but with some hesitation

Have the learner re-read the same story until it is read fluently (read ysmoothly and with confidence). If the learner’s intonation, pace, or smoothness seems to be a problem, model fluently reading the story to the learner, then have the reader try to match your model, OR

Practice reading earlier Sprout Stories until reading is fluent. When re- yreading Read with Me Stories, point out your pacing and tone.

For stories read at 60% - 79% correct

Repeat the last completed episode, and ensure the learner speaks y out loud when requested to throughout the program. Conduct another Benchmark Reading Assessment with the Headsprout Reader, OR

Read one of the earlier Sprout Stories together. Start by reading a ysentence, then have the learner re-read the same sentence after you. Model appropriate pace and intonation for each sentence in the story. Repeat with the same story, this time with the learner reading first. Continue alternating, each reading the same sentence. If the learner stumbles on a word, correct it, then have the learner start the sentence again.

If there is a particular word that you know the learner has difficulty yreading, review it before the learner reads the sentence. End with the learner reading the entire story aloud. Praise all success.

Use the Sprout Cards (flashcards) for extra practice (see below for Sprout yCard suggestions).

Fewer than 60% correct

Reset the learner to an earlier episode (one in which the learner ydemonstrated better reading skills), and ensure the learner speaks out loud when requested to throughout the program.

Use the Sprout Cards (flashcards) for extra practice. Sprout Cards are keyed yto specific levels in the program. Use the level indicated by the highest episode completed by the learner. If the learner has completed Episode 17, use the Sprout Cards that follow Episode 11, not Episode 18.

Present a card and ask the learner to say the sound or word.

If the learner answers without hesitation, place the card in pile 1 y

If the learner hesitates, but is correct, place the card in pile 2 y

If the learner doesn’t answer or is incorrect, place the card in pile 3 y

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Now, starting with pile 3, model the sound, and have the learner say it. Then re-present the sound or word without the model. Do this until the learner responds correctly to all the cards in pile 3 unprompted.

Shuffle the pile 3 cards with those in pile 2. Present these cards. If the learner is correct, place the card in pile 1. If the learner doesn’t answer or is incorrect, place the card in pile 3. After completing pile 2, review pile 3 again as described. Continue until all the cards are in pile 1.

You can make this a game, giving a point for every card in pile 1.Read the stories together using the method described in the previous section.

Home Use

Students may access Headsprout Early Reading at home if they have Internet access and you decide to enable Home Access. We suggest a few things to help ensure that the expectations for Home Access are clear. See Section 2 for more information on enabling Home Access.

Suggestions to Share with Parents

Headsprout’s y Early Reading program is designed to teach typical beginning readers the critical skills and strategies essential for their reading success.

Let the program do the teaching. It adapts to your child’s strengths and yweaknesses by reinforcing success, moving quickly to the next skill, providing educational correction of errors (re-teaching the skill, not just having a child do it again), and presenting extra practice on skills that are not yet firmly established or fluent.

Being close at hand while a student is using the program is fine. y

Provide praise for doing well and gentle encouragement if things get a little ychallenging.

One of the most important things to do is to set up a regular routine of yusing Headsprout. A consistent schedule of three to five times a week, generally around the same time, is ideal.

Print out the Sprout Stories as they are available (see the Sprout Stories yicon on your “My Headsprout” page), and praise your children as they read the stories. They will get better and better as they progress through the program.

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Section Summary

This section provided tips and suggestions on how to help students who need special attention for a variety of reasons. Ideas were given about what to do when students have special needs, how to help when students struggle reading the Sprout Stories, and how Headsprout Early Reading can help English Language Learners. In addition, this section discussed what kinds of suggestions to share with parents who have Home Access.

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Section 9:Performance Reports


Headsprout’s Secure Reports ................................................. 74

Accessing Online Performance Reports .................................. 74Group Reports ............................................................................... 75

Individualized Student Reports ....................................................... 79

Compiling a Reading Portfolio ........................................................ 82

Section Summary ................................................................... 83


Section 9:

Performance Reports

Schools and districts are often required to gather information about student reading performance in accordance with state standards. Headsprout’s fully secure, automated performance reports make it easy for teachers and administrators to track student progress.

Every time your students use Headsprout Early Reading, information about their correct responses, errors, hesitations, and number of clicks is collected and organized into a performance report. Headsprout’s performance reports are one of the best sources of information about your students’ strengths, weaknesses, and reading progress. For teachers, these reports can be generated for individual student or for the entire group/class. Administrators can view these data at the student, class, school, or district level.

Headsprout’s Secure Reports

Accessing Online Performance Reports

Headsprout performance reports are available from any Internet-connected computer and are password protected. Reports are updated each day at 12:00 a.m. Central Time.

To access online performance reports:

From your “My Headsprout” page, click on “View Performance Reports”1.

Enter your username and password, if prompted2.

To view a Group Report, click the circle next to the report title, then click 3. “Go” above the left column of reports

To view an Individual Report, click the circle next to the report title, select 4. a name in the drop-down menu, then click “Go” above the right column of reports

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Group ReportsThere are six types of group reports: Class-wide Percent Correct, Class-wide Scope and Sequence Placement, Daily Report, Class-wide Benchmark Reading Assessments, Usage Report, and Placement of Learners in Program. Each group report is described in more detail below.

Class-wide Percent Correct The Class-wide Percent Correct Report has information about how each student is doing overall. The report lists each student’s percent correct for each episode and the average percent correct for all episodes completed. It also lists the average percent correct for the entire class.

Every Headsprout episode has built-in exit criteria that students have to meet before moving on. Some students achieve these exit criteria quickly, and others need more practice. The percent correct in this report tells you how much instruction or practice a student needed before meeting the episode’s exit criteria. The higher the percent, the more quickly and easily that student learned the skills taught. In this report you’ll see scores below 80% listed in red.

Note

Number of time-outs is the number of opportunities the learner had to click and did not.

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What to Look for How to Help

Students who have not been on the program for a while or are several episodes behind their peers

Make sure that students:

have adequate computer time yscheduled to complete episodes

are not having difficulty in the yprogram. See the individual report called “Session Activity” for more information

who have left the school are ywithdrawn

Students with frequent or consecutive episodes below 80 percent correct

Make sure that students are:

responding orally when required y

reading Sprout Stories outside yof the program

practicing sounds and sight ywords with Sprout Cards

repeating episodes if necessar y y

Percent Correct - What to Look for:Check the Class-wide Percent Correct Report at least once a week to monitor student performance.

Class-wide Scope and Sequence PlacementThe Class-wide Scope and Sequence Placement is a table of a class’s current position in the Headsprout Early Reading Scope and Sequence. With this report, you can easily determine the number and percentage of students who have been taught a particular skill. You’ll also be able to determine the number of students currently working on a particular skill and what skills have yet to be taught.

The full Headsprout Scope and Sequence can be easily viewed online at http://static.headsprout.com/pdf/headsprout%20early%20reading%20scope%20and%20sequence.pdf

Daily ReportThe Daily Report displays the daily progress for each student in your group or class, including the percent correct for the most recent episode. This report also alerts you when students are ready to read a printed book. For instance, the listing “RwM: The Fan” indicates that the student is now ready to read the Read with Me Story, The Fan. You can also review previous days.

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Daily Report – What to Look for:Check the Daily Report often. This report is especially useful for checking student progress and preparing Sprout Stories for checkout.


Students who will soon be ready for a Benchmark Reading Assessment

Conduct an oral reading assessment shortly after students finish an episode with a Headsprout Reader; promptly record the scores online (See Section 6 for instructions)

Students who will soon be ready for other Sprout Stories

Be sure Sprout Stories are readily available for your students to read to an adult or experienced reader

Students who have not been on the program for a while





Class-wide Benchmark Reading AssessmentsAfter you input the results from Benchmark Reading Assessments, this report gives you the oral reading score for each student in your class and lists the last episode completed. See Section 6 for steps for inputting Class Benchmark Reading Assessment data.

Benchmark Reading Assessments – What to Look for:Check the Benchmark Reading Assessments at least once a week to monitor student performance. This report can be displayed by number correct, by percent correct, and by observer rating.

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Students who are missing Benchmark Reading Assessments for previous episodes

Ensure that Benchmark Reading yAssessments are done as soon as possible with each learner

Schedule time to catch yup if Benchmark Reading Assessments are missing

Students with low numbers of words read correctly

Students with a “needs practice” observer rating on Benchmark Reading Assessments


re-read Headsprout Readers yseveral times

practice with earlier Sprout yStories

get reset to the episode after ytheir last successful Benchmark Reading Assessment (for additional suggestions, see Section 6 on Benchmark Reading Assessments and Section 8 for reading intervention recommendations)

Usage ReportThe Usage Report displays how often your students are using Headsprout Early Reading and is helpful in determining a class’s eligibility for the Headsprout Performance Guarantee. This report shows the number of weeks since the students began the program, the average number of episodes completed each week, and the total number of times each student has started a Headsprout session. Results appear in red if more than two weeks have passed since a student completed an episode or if a student completes fewer than three episodes per week.

Usage Report - What to Look for:Check the Usage Report at least once a week to monitor student performance.

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Students who have not been on the program for a while or are not reaching your target goal for episodes completed each week

Make sure the students:




Students with a pattern of starting episodes but not completing them consistently

Schedule longer sessions on the ycomputer for these students if necessary

Work one-on-one with students yto help them stay on task (see individual “Sessions Activity” report for more information)

Implement a point chart yor other reward system for completing episodes (see Section 8)

Placement of Learners in the ProgramThis report displays a bar graph showing the current placement of learners in the program based on the last episode completed. With this report, it’s easy to see how far the class has progressed in the program.

Individualized Student ReportsIndividual reports provide more specific information about student performance and are great for planning one-on-one instruction, parent-teacher conferences, and portfolio reviews. There are four types of individualized reports: Completed Episode Performance, Scope and Sequence Placement, Session Activity, and Benchmark Reading Assessment. Each type of report is described in more detail below.

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Completed Episode Performance The Completed Episode Performance report shows a chronological listing of the episodes a student has completed and includes the following information:

Date each episode was completed y

Duration of each episode (the minutes spent on a given episode is an yindication of how challenging an episode was for a particular learner)

Percent correct y

Number of interactions (mouse clicks) y

Featured sounds and sight words, and skills and strategies encountered y

The featured sounds and sight words column lists the sounds and words that a student has learned—an important feature for creating practice activities with students or for determining likely error patterns. For example, if most students have learned the sound /ee/, you could make a list of practice words that include that sound.

By tracking the skills and strategies information, you’ll have a good idea of how each student is progressing through the program and what reading skills you might expect to see emerging.

Scope and Sequence PlacementThe Scope and Sequence Placement Report displays a table that summarizes the reading skills that a student has mastered, skills in progress, and skills yet to be taught. This report also includes a summary of the student’s overall percent correct in the program to date. The Scope and Sequence Placement Report is useful for discussing Headsprout Early Reading with parents and other educators.

Session ActivityThe Session Activity Report is a chronological listing of all the sessions and activities a student has had in Headsprout Early Reading and includes the following information:

Date and time of session y

Episodes attempted y

Episode status (complete or incomplete) y

Interaction duration (number of minutes of interaction in a session) y

Number of opportunities for interaction y

Number of interactions y

Percent correct (appears in red if below 80%) y

Number of time-outs y

Percent of time-outs (appears in red if 25% or higher) y

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Note

Number of time-outs is the number of opportunities the learner had to click and did not.

Session Activity – What to Look for:Check the Session Activity Report to monitor the online performance of an individual student.


Frequent or consecutive incomplete episodes

Schedule longer sessions on the ycomputer if necessary

Work one-on-one with students ywho may have difficulty staying on task

Implement a point chart yor other reward system for completing episodes (see Section 8)

Frequent or consecutive episodes below 80% correct

Make sure that students are:

speaking out loud when asked to y

reading Sprout Stories outside y of the program

practicing sounds and sight ywords with Sprout Cards

repeating episodes if necessary y

Time-outs above 25% Work one-on-one with students ywho may have difficulty staying on task

Implement a point chart or other yreward system for following instructions (see Section 8)

Use the “percent of time-outs” ycolumn along with the “percent correct” column to help determine if a learner is simply off-task or possibly struggling with the program content

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Benchmark Reading AssessmentAfter you input the results from previously conducted Benchmark Reading Assessments, this report displays a student’s oral reading score for all Benchmark Assessments completed (see Section 6 – Benchmark Reading Assessment for specific steps for entering Benchmark Assessment Data). This includes the repeated assessments conducted for learners who may have received “needs practice” ratings the first time. The individual Benchmark Reading Assessment Report is a great way to show your dedication to ensuring that your students are showing improvement as they progress through the program.

Compiling a Reading PortfolioReading portfolios form a permanent record of achievement to share with parents and other educators. You can track your students’ growth as readers as they begin to learn sounds and words, acquire sounding-out strategies, and work on comprehension and punctuation.

To build a reading portfolio, start by printing out the Completed Episode Performance and Benchmark Reading Assessment reports for each student. You can include audio or videotaped recordings of students’ reading performance at different points throughout the program. You might also want to include a list of state or district specific standards and how they are met through Headsprout Early Reading.

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Section Summary

Section 9 briefly discussed the importance of collecting reading performance data and how Headsprout does so. This section also provided a detailed description of the various types of performance reports available to both teachers and administrators, how to access them, and what to do with them.

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Section 10:Skills and Strategies Taught in Headsprout Early Reading


A Balanced Approach to Early Reading Instruction .................. 86Five Interconnected Sub-skills ........................................................ 86

Headsprout’s Approach to Teaching ............................................... 90

Section Summary .................................................................. 91


Section 10:

Skills and Strategies Taught in Headsprout Early Reading

Headsprout Early Reading offers a balanced approach to beginning reading instruction. While it teaches students to identify and combine letter-sound combinations, it also incorporates elements that don’t appear in typical phonics programs. The program teaches students to read full sentences and stories while comprehending their meaning, and prepares them for demonstrating their newfound knowledge and skills on standardized tests.

Headsprout addresses the concerns of students and teachers alike about the rule-based, exception-filled English language. Too often, students are expected to begin reading by memorizing rules that dictate sound-letter associations, only to have to memorize further exceptions to those rules. The English language uses the 26 letters of the alphabet to represent 44 sounds—sounds that can be written in over 400 different ways. The sounds in the first half of Headsprout Early Reading are stable (read the same way) in over 85% of their occurrences, greatly increasing the likelihood that words will be read correctly. With Headsprout Early Reading, students gain confidence in their ability to sound out without being discouraged by the challenge of memorizing the English language’s many exceptions.

Five Interconnected Sub-skillsHeadsprout Early Reading incorporates the five basic, interconnected sub-skills that all children must master if they are to become proficient readers. These skills are: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary development, comprehension, and reading fluency.

Phonemic AwarenessIn Headsprout Early Reading, phonemic awareness instruction:

Progresses from sounds in isolation, to finding sounds in words, to yblending sounds into words

Combines segmenting with instruction in letter-sound relations y

Teaches segmenting and blending as complementary processes by building ythese skills through systematically sequenced examples

Provides guided fluency practice for finding letter-sound combinations in ythe beginning, middle, and end of a word

Builds students’ sound articulation skills, such that sounds students say ymatch the sounds that they hear

A Balanced Approach to Early Reading Instruction

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Phonemic awareness instruction is integrated throughout Headsprout Early Reading’s teaching routines. Students listen to sounds, select a visual representation of the sound, and then hear the sound again as confirmation of their selections. They are asked to say the sounds, listen to cartoon characters say sounds, and then select the character that “said the sound just like you did.” Students hear the sounds blended slowly, and then they blend the sounds together themselves. Next, they hear the sounds said fast as whole words. Eventually, they are asked to say the whole word quickly. They learn not only to identify and say the sounds that letters represent, both independently and as blended units, but to listen to and identify the sounds they say—a critical step in becoming a proficient reader.

Phonemic AwarenessIn Headsprout Early Reading, phonics instruction:

Begins with stable phonetic elements (letter combinations representing ysounds) that are said the same way in over 85% of the words in which they appear before moving on to less stable phonetic elements

Provides practice distinguishing easily confused phonetic elements from yone another

Offers repeated, cumulative practice of learned letter-sound combinations y

Extends students’ sound articulation skills so that when students encounter ya printed phonetic unit, they say the corresponding sound

Builds fluency in rapid automatic naming of sounds and words y

Provides application of phonetic skills to increasingly demanding story yreading

In the first half of Headsprout Early Reading, students learn 34 carefully chosen phonetic elements that maintain a consistent pronunciation in over 85% of the words in which they appear. This early consistency is extremely important in ensuring the transfer of segmenting and blending skills learned in the program to words encountered outside the program. In the second half of Headsprout Early Reading, students learn an additional 58 phonetic elements, including the c-v-c (consonant-vowel-consonant) and v-c (vowel-consonant) combinations. Students find that sounds can be represented by one, two, or three letters, and combined to make meaningful units of phonemic information. They quickly discover that some sounds contain other sounds and that sound units can be combined to make new sounds. Rather than requiring explicit instruction for every new word that is encountered in a story, Headsprout Early Reading’s instructional strategies lead students to make these insights in a discovery-learning environment. Students learn to use their phonics knowledge to sound out words in isolation and as parts of sentences, and to read stories that contain words they have not been directly taught.

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Vocabulary DevelopmentIn Headsprout Early Reading, vocabulary instruction:

Starts with words in a student’s listening vocabulary and introduces them yas text

Uses character names to introduce the concept that unfamiliar words can yhave meaning

Uses all words in an age-appropriate context y

Offers word-meaning probes and exercises embedded in all sentence- yreading exercises

Provides vocabulary-related exercises for all decodable and irregular words yprior to presenting them in a story

Includes comprehension instruction using context to derive word meaning y

Headsprout Early Reading builds a solid foundation for vocabulary development, particularly as it affects reading. An essential component of vocabulary growth is the concept that words are composed of sounds, which have a particular meaning when combined in a particular way, and can be combined to make sentences that, in turn, make stories. Students begin to add the words in their spoken vocabulary to their reading vocabulary.

By reading the names of Headsprout characters and other uncommon words, students discover that unfamiliar words have meaning. As students master the initial sounding-out strategies, more phonetic elements are added. Students practice the words made from these elements until they become a permanent part of their vocabulary. Throughout the program, students match sentences that contain newly-learned words to pictures, ensuring that they have a basic understanding of the words they are reading. Once sounding-out skills are solidified and over 90 sound elements and 100 sight words are learned, a typical student will have developed a reading vocabulary of more than 5,000 words in less than 30 hours of online instruction.

ComprehensionIn Headsprout Early Reading, comprehension instruction:

Uses picture matching to teach sentence meaning and story comprehension y

Teaches comprehension at the word, sentence, short passage, and story ylevel

Introduces punctuation mechanics through separate, but related, exercises y

Uses specially designed embedded questions in Read with Me Stories y

Combines listening comprehension with sentence reading related to main yidea, prediction, and inference

Cumulatively builds a repertoire of multiple comprehension strategies y

Systematically builds comprehension exercises from the sentence level to ythe passage and story level

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Understanding the meaning of text is the purpose of reading. And just as students must be taught to “break the code,” reading comprehension requires explicit instruction. Headsprout Early Reading teaches children the skills and strategies they need to understand the text they read.

For example, If ‘Look at the ceiling’ is written on a blackboard, and a person says, ‘Look at the ceiling,’ the person is decoding; if the person’s head tilts back and a glance upward is observed, the person is comprehending. Though overly simplified, this example illustrates the important point that comprehension requires indicator responses that are separate from simply seeing and saying words or sentences. Indicator responses are key to teaching and evaluating comprehension.

Headsprout Early Reading employs frequent use of indicators to test whether what is being decoded is also being understood. Indicators are used to teach self-observation as well as sentence and story comprehension. Questions are interspersed at key points throughout a story, enabling children to demonstrate their understanding as they read.

After each reading exercise, students are shown a selection of three pictures and asked to choose the one that best matches the sentence. The pictures vary in such a way as to ensure that the words in the sentences have been read and are understood. From as early as Episode 5, students learn that the sentences they read are not simply lists of words, but units of meaning.

Reading Fluency (Including Oral Reading Skills)In Headsprout Early Reading, fluency instruction:

Teaches fluent letter-sound recognition, both in isolation and in words, yand promotes rapid whole word recognition of sight words and familiar decodable words

Provides a story-reading opportunity after only five episodes—within the yfirst 100 minutes of instruction

Provides a multitude of opportunities for fluency practice by reading yconnected text

Provides 80 stories for continued reading practice y

Ensures that regular words in stories are limited to phonetic elements that ystudents have already learned, so that stories are fully decodable

Systematically builds reading fluency to over 90 words per minute through ycarefully sequenced, timed fluency exercises

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Fluency is a critical element in all Headsprout Early Reading activities. Often, fluency work is left to the end of reading instruction, when a student practices reading sentences. From Episode 1, students engage in fluency-building activities such as finding sounds in words. By Episode 4, they are building fluency with words made up of the sounds they have learned in the previous episodes. By Episode 5, students read their first story. In the 80 episodes that comprise Headsprout Early Reading, over 200 fluency-building opportunities have been specifically designed to build a strong reading repertoire. In fewer than 30 hours of instruction, a student will have read 80 separate stories. Most of the stories are designed to be read independently by the student. However, the program also includes some stories that are intended to be read together with an experienced reader. These stories are more complicated, and include both sentences for the experienced reader and sentences the students can easily read. Students are thereby exposed to fluent reading at a level slightly higher than they can currently handle, and must pay close attention so they can read “their” sentences when it is their turn.

Headsprout’s Approach to Teaching Headsprout Early Reading derives its success from a methodology that incorporates six key pedagogical frameworks.

1. Carefully Designed Instructional SequenceHeadsprout’s instructional sequence allows students to start with things they know or can easily do and builds from there. Each learner follows an individual path to mastery—in both rate of learning and particular learning needs. Skills are introduced gradually, so that mastery can proceed smoothly. First the skill is demonstrated, then it is prompted; eventually, the learner is able to do it on his or her own, without any extra prompts. This design sequence enables students to make fewer mistakes and reduces the frustration of trial-and-error learning. Errors are used as teaching opportunities and the student is always provided the opportunity to retry and succeed at the task.

2. Individualized PracticeEvery response counts and is acknowledged by appropriate feedback on accuracy and rate. If students need individualized practice with a particular skill, they get it. The program increases very gradually in difficulty, balancing easy review with more difficult exercises, so students average over 90% correct responses per episode in fun yet challenging interactions.

3. Skill MasteryHeadsprout Early Reading allows students to practice and learn a skill until they demonstrate mastery. The program ensures that a student does not exit an instructional segment without achieving the specific learning goal. For example, an exercise may require a student to make five consecutive correct letter-sound discriminations. One learner might require only five responses. Another learner might make errors, be diverted into a brief tutorial session, and then return to the initial task, where five consecutive correct responses are still required for exit. Even students who require more instruction or practice opportunities meet the mastery criteria before exiting.

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4. Focus on FluencyHeadsprout wants every learner to achieve fluency and automaticity. This emphasis makes Headsprout Early Reading unique. For example, in a letter-sound discrimination task, fluency may be defined as the ability to consistently, quickly, and accurately identify sound-letter combinations. Fluency improves the retention of new skills, enhances the comprehension of new material, and facilitates the recognition of new words; the learner gains confidence, and learning occurs at an accelerated rate. As students learn to read words, time criteria are introduced, and word reading becomes more automatic. This strategy is eventually extended to sentence and story reading. Throughout the program, students listen to oral reading samples that model and emphasize both rate and prosody and confirm fluent reading for students.

5. Cumulative ReviewHeadsprout further improves the retention of new skills with a process of cumulative review. Skills are revisited, reused, and extended. Students are not merely memorizing information; they’re learning the “hows” of reading, which stick with them—just like riding a bicycle—even when there’s been a significant period of little or no practice.

6. InteractivityHeadsprout Early Reading is highly interactive. Headsprout students learn by doing. On average, students engage in over 180 individualized interactions per 20-minute episode. With most other approaches, students—even those receiving one-on-one tutoring—get significantly fewer opportunities to actively practice with immediate relevant feedback.

Section Summary

This section discussed in greater detail how Headsprout Early Reading teaches each skill (phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and reading fluency) and discussed Headsprout’s approach to early reading instruction.

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Section 11:The Science behindHeadsprout Early Reading


Scientific Research ................................................................. 94

Headsprout’s Scientific Research and Development Process .... 95

Sprout Learning® Technology: Combining the Science of Learning with the Art of Teaching ........................................................ 95

Learner-Verified Results ................................................................. 96

Measurement Tactics ..................................................................... 97

Publications ................................................................................... 97

Section Summary .................................................................. 99


Section 11:

The Science behind Headsprout Early Reading

Scientific Research

Federal funding for early reading programs is now increasingly dependent on whether a program can demonstrate a foundation in scientifically based reading research.

The U. S. Department of Education has explicitly stated what it considers criteria for identifying a program as scientifically based. The term “scientifically based” refers to an investigation that:

Applies rigorous, systematic, and objective procedures to obtain valid yknowledge relevant to reading development, reading instruction, and reading difficulties

Includes research that: y

Employs systematic, empirical methods that draw on observation or � experiment

Involves rigorous data analyses that are adequate to test the stated � hypotheses and justify the general conclusions drawn

Relies on measurements or observational methods that provide valid � data across evaluators and observers and across multiple measurements and observations

Has been accepted by a peer-reviewed journal or approved by a panel � of independent experts through a comparably rigorous, objective, and scientific review.

Headsprout Early Reading is the product of an extremely rigorous scientific research and development process. Our unparalleled research base sets us apart from all other programs in that it makes Headsprout Early Reading highly effective at reaching its intended outcome—teaching children to read.

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Headsprout’s Scientific Research and Development Process

Sprout Learning® Technology: Combining the Science of Learning with the Art of Teaching

At the heart of Headsprout’s learning programs is a sophisticated, patented, instructional technology that ensures our programs are scientifically built, tested, redesigned, and retested, and result in the outcomes the programs were designed to achieve. This process, called Sprout Learning Technology, ensures children learn the skills important to academic success.

Because Headsprout products are powered by Sprout Learning Technology, it means the:

Teaching methods are research-derived and informed by data from yempirical studies on teaching and learning

Teaching methods are explicitly defined and can be replicated across ystudents, teachers, and schools

Teaching methods are formulated as testable procedures y

Teaching routines are specifically designed for teaching in interactive yenvironments

Performance and progress are continuously tracked to make the program yresponsive to all learners

Teaching routines are continually updated based upon measurable youtcomes with learners

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Sprout Learning Technology is based on Headsprout’s own model of “generative instruction.” A careful sequence of procedures establishes key, component skills. Instruction and practice are then provided for those skills, and finally new learning opportunities are introduced that encourage the student to combine these skills into more complex skills with little additional instruction needed.

Learner-Verified Results Headsprout develops its programs according to strict scientific protocol. Rather than just testing the impact of Headsprout Early Reading after it was developed, Headsprout rigorously tested and refined the program during each stage of development. Every portion of Headsprout programs is measured and evaluated, from the most basic element of instruction to the complete interlocking sets of skills and strategies (Layng, Twyman, & Stikeleather, 2003).

Learning scientists, educators, and instructional designers observed hundreds of children interacting with the program in Headsprout’s learning laboratory. Headsprout evaluated the basic instructional components, the appeal of the cartoon characters and various program activities, comprehension of instructions, and the children’s willingness to interact vocally with the program. Above all, Headsprout measured the effectiveness of the program at teaching fundamental reading skills.

In addition to the testing laboratory, over 2,500 children beta-tested the near-finished program from the comfort of their own homes. Their interactions were tracked and analyzed to ensure that modifications to the program yielded the expected results and that learning goals for the total program were maintained. Any modifications to the program are empirically tested with learners and must demonstrate effectiveness before it is released to the public.

As of September, 2010, over 3.5 billion learner responses have been recorded and analyzed to test, modify, and retest each learning routine used in the program. Over the course of initial development, Headsprout made over 10,000 data-based revisions to early versions of the program. No change, no matter how seemingly insignificant, has made it into the program without thorough user testing.

Through our Internet deployment strategy, Headsprout continues to collect data on every child that uses the program, which allows the learning scientists and instructional designers to continually improve it. As more data are gathered, improvements are designed, tested, and immediately deployed over the Internet, so that students always have the best, most up-to-date program.

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Measurement Tactics The scientific basis of our program comes first from a thorough grounding in measurement. We measure all opportunities to interact with our program and all learner interactions on a real-time basis via the Internet. For each learner, we know:

How many responses were made (in the program as a whole or in a yparticular episode). These counts are used to determine the rate of responding (and thus the level of engagement and active learning) within and between episodes.

How many of these responses were correct and how many were errors. yThese counts are used to determine correct and error rates; ratios of corrects to total responses; and ratios of corrects to errors.

The nature of the errors made by learners. This analysis is used to ydetermine error patterns or potential discrimination problems, as well as which specific skills need to be firmed.

The latency (time between opportunity and response) of all responses. yThis measure tells us the amount of “think time” a child may require to be successful, and also shows which skills to target for fluency building.

The screen position of all responses. This analysis would let us know if ya learner’s responding is based on a position bias or is being guided by inadvertent clues in the display.

The amount of time the learner spent in each interaction, segment, and yepisode. This measure helps us determine skill, strategy, and episode sequence. It also helps us maximize the likelihood that our interactions will capture learners’ attention span to the extent necessary for successful teaching.

Publications Headsprout is dedicated to the education and dissemination of research-based programs; therefore, we have many publications and research projects that provide a comprehensive overview of the research base of Headsprout Early Reading. These papers, found in the Headsprout Research Base, are organized into three sections, described below. You may request a printed copy of the Research Base from your Headsprout Sales Representative at 800.401.5062 Ext. 7700.

The Headsprout Research and Development Approach includes papers that describe the research process used by Headsprout in developing the program and provide a clear definition of what is actually meant by the term “research-based.” The concepts of formative and summative evaluation are introduced and defined, and their importance to a proper evaluation of a program’s instructional effectiveness is described. A detailed, under-the-hood explanation of Headsprout’s product development approach is presented to explain how the design of Headsprout Early Reading is not only “informed” by research, but is also the product of a direct scientific development process.

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The second section, Formative Evaluation and Experiments, provides published papers that focus on Headsprout Early Reading itself and the data that shaped the final product. The teaching routines used, the critical reading repertoires taught, and the data that led to Headsprout Early Reading, are all detailed in these papers. The final paper in this section describes how the development procedures used were so precise that actual experiments could be conducted during the development process and published in a peer-reviewed journal that contributed new knowledge to our understanding of how children learn.

The third section, Summative Evaluation and Experiments, provides a sample of the growing database of summative, or large-scale, evaluation of Headsprout Early Reading. Case studies, multi-year evaluations, and perhaps more importantly, controlled research featuring unbiased group assignment, together reveal the effectiveness of Headsprout Early Reading. These summative evaluation papers, when combined with the papers describing the company’s unique formative evaluation approach, testify to the commitment that Headsprout has made to being truly research-based.

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Section Summary

Section 11 discussed the extensive scientific research upon which Headsprout Early Reading is based. It described in detail the patented technology that allows Headsprout to guarantee that you students will learn to read. Finally, this section introduced Headsprout’s scientific publications and provided information on how to access them.

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Reference and Recommended Readings


Reference and Recommended Readings

Layng, T. V. J. , Twyman, J. S. & Stikeleather, G. Research-Based Reading Instruction: Should We Be Paying More Attention to Formative Evaluation? Conference on “The Scientific Basis of Educational Productivity” sponsored by the American Psychological Association and the Laboratory for Student Success (U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences), held early 2004 in Washington, D.C.

Layng, T. V. J. , Twyman, J. S. , & Stikeleather, G. (2004). Selected for success: How Headsprout Reading Basics™ teaches beginning reading. In D. J. Moran & R. Malott (Eds.) Evidence-based education methods (pp. 171-197). St. Louis, MO: Elsevier Science/Academic Press.

Layng, T. V. J. , Twyman, J. S. & Stikeleather, G. (2003, June). Headsprout Reading Basics: The Research Base. Poster presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Boulder, CO.

Layng, T. V. J. , Twyman, J. S. & Stikeleather, G. (2002, June). Engineering Discovery: Contingency Adduction in a Beginning Reading. Presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, Chicago, IL.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (2000). Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction: Reports of the Subgroups (NIH Publication No. 00-4754). Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office.

The National Right to Read Foundation. Retrieved January 15, 2002, from http://www.nrrf.org/nichd.htm

The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Pub. L. No. 107-110 (2002).

Twyman, J. S. , Layng, T. V. J. , Stikeleather, G. and Hobbins, K.A. (2004). A non-linear approach to curriculum design: The role of behavior analysis in building an effective reading program. In W. L. Heward et al. (Eds.), Focus on Behavior Analysis in Education, Vol. 3. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill/Prentice Hall.

For more information or a copy of these manuscripts, contact:

Headsprout, 127 Broadway Ave. E., Suite 200, Seattle, WA 98102 [email protected]; www.headsprout.com


List ofAppendices


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APPENDIx A

Headsprout’s Sample Letter to Parents .................................. 104

APPENDIx B

Sample Letter to Parents (As Adapted By a School in WA) ........105

APPENDIx C

Sample Letter to Parents (As Adapted By a School in WA) ........106

APPENDIx D

Sample Email Sent to Parents When At-Home

Access is Enabled ........................................................................ 107

APPENDIx E

Sample Progress Report that Can Be Automatically

Emailed to Parents ......................................................................108

APPENDIx F

Student and Classroom Readiness Chart ...................................109

APPENDIx G

Headsprout Point Sheet Master .................................................. 110

APPENDIx H

Overview of Sounds and Words ..................................................111

List ofAppendices

104 APPENDIX www.headsprout.com

Appendix A:

Headsprout’s Sample Letter to Parents

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We’re pleased to bring you this news about our early reading curriculum. We’ve teamed up with Headsprout to offer a computer-based reading program to help us provide your child essential skills for reading success.

Headsprout Early Reading is an award-winning, interactive, online reading program that meets the National Reading Panel guidelines for instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The nationally-recognized Florida Center for Reading Research said the following about Headsprout Early Reading.

“While having fun working on the computer, students learn that letters and sounds go together to make words, words go together to make sentences, and sentences make stories. They learn to read several common sight words and to read for meaning and enjoyment. These reading skills and strategies are explicitly mastered in a fun, ‘learn-by-doing’ manner, while behind the scenes Headsprout adapts to each student’s individual strengths and weaknesses.”

The program offers several wonderful features to bridge the school-home connection, including detailed individualized performance reports for teachers and the ability for you to receive automatic email updates about your child’s progress in the program. If you have an Internet-connected computer, your child can even use the program at home.

Please let us know if you’d like more details about Headsprout Early Reading, or are interested in the emailed progress reports or at-home access. You can visit the program’s website at www.headsprout.com.

Sincerely,

Educator NameTitleSchool

Early Reading Teacher’s Guide APPENDIX 105

Appendix B:

Appendix B – Sample Letter to Parents (as adapted by a school in WV)

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We’re pleased to bring you this news about our early reading curriculum. We’ve teamed up with Headsprout to offer a computer-based reading program to help us provide your child essential skills for reading success.

Headsprout Early Reading is an award-winning, interactive, online reading program that meets the National Reading Panel guidelines for instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and reading comprehension. The nationally recognized Florida Center for Reading Research said the following about Headsprout Early Reading.

“While having fun working on the computer, students learn that letters and sounds go together to make words, words go together to make sentences, and sentences make stories. They learn to read several common sight words and to read for meaning and enjoyment. These reading skills and strategies are explicitly mastered in a fun, ‘learn-by-doing’ manner, while behind the scenes Headsprout adapts to each student’s individual strengths and weaknesses.”

The program offers several wonderful features to bridge the school-home connection, including detailed individualized performance reports for teachers and the ability for you to receive automatic email updates about your child’s progress in the program. If you have an Internet-connected computer, your child can even use the program at home. If you choose to allow your child at-home access, please understand that we cannot troubleshoot from school nor can we answer any questions pertaining to your home computer. This program is not a required activity for home use. It is a supplemental curriculum we are offering from school. However, your child will still receive their Headsprout time at school. If you are interested in letting your child access Headsprout from home, please fill out the following slip and return it to school.

Sincerely,

Child’s Name:

Teacher:

Parent’s First Name:

Parent’s Last Name:

Parent’s Email Address:


Appendix C:

Sample Letter to Parents (as adapted by a school in WA)

September 23, 20XX

To the Parent or Guardian of

As a part of our commitment to provide the necessary opportunities for each child to learn and succeed, we are extending an invitation to your child, , to take part in our before-school Headsprout Program in the computer lab.

Headsprout is an online series of individualized skill lessons that are practiced in short stories or books with your child’s teacher. Some books are sent home to read to the family. Since your child will be enrolled in the Headsprout program at Horizon, you will have free access to the program at home, too. We’ll send you further information about that after your child has some experience with the Headsprout program at school. The Headsprout program your child is enrolled in will continue through the end of this school year or until your child completes the 80 skill lessons.

In order to accommodate the most students possible and align with other support programs, we’re hoping your child can attend an 8:30-9:00 a.m. session, two days a week (Monday and Wednesday) or a 9:00-9:30 a.m. session open four days a week, Monday through Thursday. The morning Headsprout sessions will be held in our Horizon computer lab with students reporting directly there. Students who eat breakfast will still be provided a meal before returning to class. Students who attend the 8:30 session will have the opportunity to work on Headsprout in class as well.

Your child’s teacher and I feel this additional opportunity before the school day to boost your child’s reading skills will result in an increase in his/her reading level. We’ll begin on Monday, October 30th.

Thank you so much for helping us to provide this opportunity for your child.

Literacy Coach

Please mark the appropriate box and return the lower portion to your teacher.

My child is able to attend the 8:30-9:00 Headsprout session (M,W) �My child is able to attend the 9:00-9:30 Headsprout session (M,T,W,Th) �

Student Name

Parent Signature

Date


Appendix D:

Sample Email Sent to Parents When Home Access is Enabled

Greetings from Headsprout:

STUDENT NAME is currently using Headsprout’s award-winning beginning reading program in school. Headsprout’s reading lessons are delivered over the Internet and STUDENT NAME’s teacher has granted you access to the Headsprout lessons from home.

To access the lessons, please do the following:

Login to your “My Headsprout” page at https://www.headsprout.com/login/ using the following information:

Username: THE EMAIL ADDRESS ENTERED FOR THE PARENT WILL SHOW UP HEREPassword: A RANDOM DISPLAY OF LETTERS AND NUMBERS WILL

SHOW UP HERE (ie: HS299524) (Note: passwords are case sensitive)

**** NOTE: Please save this login information for future reference ****

Your child’s teacher has been copied on this email for administrative purposes. We recommend that you change your password and define a Security Question/Answer by clicking on the “Account Management” link at the top of your “My Headsprout” page. Then, click on the “Customer Information” link on the Account Management page.

For more information about Headsprout, please visit www.headsprout.com.

Best regards,

The Headsprout Team


Appendix E:

Sample Progress Report That Can Be Automatically Emailed to Parents

Hello from Headsprout!

STUDENT NAME has completed Episode 3 and is making good progress.

* In Episode 3, STUDENT NAME spent time with her new friends Vee and San, whose names are nonsense words but provide good practice blending new sounds and teaching that even unfamiliar words have meaning. Episode 3 provided lots of practice putting sounds together to make words. STUDENT NAME blended sounds from earlier episodes into the words see, van, Vee, and San. Blending is critical in reading - it is the important concept of combining sounds to make words.

* Episode 4 helps STUDENT NAME become more fluent in recognizing and reading earlier words - and introduces a new word, the. Episode 4 also marks a very exciting milestone for a new reader: STUDENT NAME will read a complete sentence.

Are you using Headsprout at home?

You can always see more detailed information about STUDENT NAME’s progress at your “My Headsprout” page. Just click on the “Progress Report” button.

If you do not wish to receive end-of-episode emails for STUDENT NAME, please notify her teacher.

Sincerely,

Your Headsprout Team


Appendix F:

Student and Classroom Readiness Chart

Headsprout Early Reading helps students acquire reading skills up to a mid-Second Grade reading level. When your students have the required readiness skills and your classroom includes the necessary resources, your students can reach the reading outcomes possible with Headsprout.

Classroom Readiness Student Readiness1

Before beginning Headsprout, ensure that:

all students using Headsprout yhave regular access to reliable, Internet-connected computers with headphones (for most students we recommend completing at least 3 online episodes per week)2

the arrangement of desks and ycomputers allows students to work independently while an adult monitors oral responding

an adult in the classroom yis available to listen (intermittently or consistently, as needed) for accurate oral responding while students are engaged in the online episodes

a reliable listener (such as the yteacher, teacher’s assistant, parent volunteer, or older student) in the classroom is available to listen to each student read the print Sprout Stories

teachers have access to an yInternet-connected computer to view performance reports

Before beginning Headsprout, check to make sure all students can:

sit independently at a computer, ydesk or table for 5-10 minutes

transition between activities yby following the general directions given to a group without needing repeated or individualized prompts/directions

follow 1- or 2-step common ydirections

request attention (when in need yof help or a break) appropriately by hand raising, calling for the teacher or by using another appropriate signal

accept feedback (praise or ycorrection) and continue with tasks

repeat a word or phrase that was yspoken to them

completing Headsprout’s yMousing Around activity independently and in one sitting (the following section provides more detailed information on the Mousing Around activity)

1 We understand that some students with special needs may not have all the listed readiness skills, but may still benefit from Headsprout with additional support. We recommend that teachers of students with special needs use their best judgement in deciding whether individual students are ready for the program.2 Our automated Sytem Analysis Tool, Computer Requirements document, and Computer Calculator can help you determine whether you have the computer resources to run Headsprout. These tools can be accessed from our Teacher Resources page at http://www.headsprout.com/school/teacherResources.cfm


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Appendix G:

Headsprout Point Sheet Master

Name:Name:

Name:Name:

web colors

print colors


Appendix H:

Overview of Sounds and Words

The systematic, contextually-based teaching of highly stable phonetic elements in Headsprout Early Reading Episodes 1-40 helps ensure that children read new words with confidence and success. The following sequence, tested extensively with children, has been found to be very effective in ensuring reading success.

Episode Phonetic Elements

Sample Words

Episodes 1-5Space World

s, ee, v, an, n

see, van, San*, Vee*, the

Episodes 6-11Dino World

cl, c, l, fr, f, r, fl, cr, sl, sn

Lee*, can, feels, Fran*, fan, ran, sees, flee, reel

Episodes 12-18Sea World

ip, p, pl, pr, sp, and

I, and, out, flips, sand, Pip*, sleeps, clips, peep, Clee*, plan, reef, feel, rip, land, slip,

peel, slips, free

Episodes 19-23Jungle World

ish, sh, outshouts, fish, ship, vanish, pout, ships, reefs, sheep


h, sw, ing,w, old

old, is, his, folds, hand, cold, Scout*, hands, wings, swing, Fling*, fling, holds, wing


t, er, tr, sther, plant, sweet, Trish*, sweep, standing,

could, would, should, sting, feet, tree, wish, sing, told, she, he, hold, Blake

*Headsprout character names


Episode Phonetic Elements

Sample Words


ike, ake, k, m, b, bl, br, d, dr

lake, like, flake, hike, Swish*, pan, cakes, pancakes, likes, take, bringing, seek, needs, makes, bake, Mike*, dish, slips, blank, drank,

flipper, brings, takes, a, some

Episodes 48-56Dino World

g, um, oo, z, or, j, im, in, ill, ay, th,

thr, gr

good, soon, wood, tool, noon, took, food, foot, cooking, spoon, for, zoom, work, sank, book, looks, come, are, in, sang, long, said, wants,

on, Tim*, jumps, look, jump, moon, too, word, drink, about, one, two, you, may, three, Jill*,

grand, play, playing, thump

Episodes 57-66Sea World

at, ate, id, ide, ox, ot, it, ig, up, us, ut, str, ed, el, en, et, ad

plate, hat, hides, lid, please, more, sick, hide, hid, skate, sat, rid, ride, Dipper*, Spike*, has, have, we, got, box, sitting, big, not, sit, fit, sink, little, hot, fox, pig, hoop, spin, spins,

think, thinks, Jingles*, to, do, no, go, supper, must, but, cups, did, okay, thank, dust, butter, Strummer*, digging, seen, that, there, where,

here, guitar, tied, problem, went, help, pouted, better, talking, again, looked, felt, sad, shell,

wanted, drums, band, want, played, horn, me, what, who, with, triangle

Episodes 67-80Space World

ir, ar, ime, spr, as, ow, igh, all, ug, wh, est, em, y, ea, ch, ame, am, ix, un,

ife, es, qu, ack, ick, uck, kn, ex, ine, og, ock, ind, ou, ai, ace,

ew, ire

cookie, ice, first, far, time, Gus*, give, live, does, bus, get, gets, Sprout*, going, star, bird,

card, dime, swim, fins, so, cannot, asked, my, say, why, fly, because, they, how, snow, down, glow, cow, crow, brown, blow, high,

tall, might, Bug*, wow, low, when, hard, falls, throw, throwing, balls, away, small, bigger,

biggest, sky, than, them, was, from, were, four, home, saw, name, yellow, read, each, color,

orange, blue, rainbow, town, story, eat, years, game, am, six, cheese, catch, yes, Mars, night, life, fourth, sun, be, us, of, most, very, planet,

quick, quack, lucky, jack, duck, back, tell, tricks, pick, let, friend, magnifying glass, know,

next, line, who’s, dogs, hello, today, beans, Zog*, Zog’s, diner, grow, flower, flowers,

pot, dirt, seed, start, green, watered, kind, knock, mine, put, find, other, water, buildings,

weather, Bernadette, la la la, ground, rain, space, new, wet, lot, leaf, count, leaves, worm, wonder, five, seven, whew, much, tired, use, people, their, write, isn’t, I’ll, that’s, hasn’t,

she’s, I’d, possibly, probably, tunes, I’m, we’re, aren’t, jungle, friends, words, cards, sea,

important, putting, almost, become, reader, worked, learned, terrific, job, I’m, were, aren’t,

isn’t, I’ll, that’s, hasn’t, she’s, I’d, possibly, probably, tunes

*Headsprout character names

As learners become fluent in the concepts of letters representing sounds and sounds making up words, Headsprout Early Reading Episodes 41-80 incorporate less stable sounds and more opportunities for novel words.


Headsprout® Early Reading is a K-2 supplemental program that ensures reading success for every child, guaranteed. The program takes a non-reader or beginning reader up to mid-2nd Grade reading skills in less than 30 hours of individualized online instruction. Eighty printed stories (including Chapter Books) and automated performance reports accompany the program.

early reading

Headsprout guarantees that every Kindergarten or 1st Grade student who completes Headsprout® Early Reading will be reading at grade level. Headsprout will refund the price paid for any K-1 student who completes the program but is not reading at grade level.

Guarantee

Headsprout Early Reading Teacher's Guide

Documents

Transcript of Headsprout Early Reading Teacher's Guide